


Different Dads AU

by pan_demic



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Angst, Criminal!Mikey, Honestly I thought of this AU on a whim, Leo goes to Draxum, Purple Dragon!Donnie, Villain Turtles, YOU get a DAD! YOU GET A DAD! EVERYONE GETS DADS!!, but THEY GOT DIFFERENT DADS! yaY?, foot!raph, for some chapters, found family though theyre... actually family..? LOL, its very chaotic and messy, just a little, mild blood warning, not tcest, this is just a villain AU tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 43,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25423819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pan_demic/pseuds/pan_demic
Summary: “You four... are brothers.”And at that moment everyone had thought the same thing simultaneously:‘No way these guys are my brothers! They’re too... too silly, and not serious! And fail at everything they do! They don’t even look anything like me!...Oh God, they’re totally my brothers...’or,The AU where the boys get separated during the Incident™.
Comments: 37
Kudos: 136





	1. Prologue - Regrets

**Author's Note:**

> I am so excited to show you all my brand new (shitpost) AU!
> 
> Just a little what-if scenario that popped into my head one day, that I _really_ wanted to write. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I do hope you do enjoy reading anyhow :3!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was wondering if I should post this as a seperate thing or mix it with all the others, but I think itd be better if it’s a prologue instead! Oncoming Chapters ahoy!

* * *

If you asked Hamato Yoshi what he regretted most in his entire life, he wouldn't give you a straight answer.

Maybe he'd tell you it was when he met Big Mama, and fell in love.

Or when his burrito fell that one handsome day.

But in truth, it was that day. When he was mutated into this... thing. Though that was only one of the reasons he still couldn't get proper any sleep. It wasn't even the main one. No, that one, was a writhing massive guilt trip. It kept him up, kept him thinking all throughout the late hours of the night, up to the earliest crack of dawn. Never losing its grip on him, constantly writhing at the back of his head, never leaving his side. Kind of like a clingy ex that refuses to keep bothering you yet constantly berating you.

Every time he would close his eyes the memory would play like a broken record.

He remembered it like it was yesterday. The building began to crumble, and as he freed all the other mutants in their cages his eyes catch the four turtles trying to gain their balance. Made with _his_ DNA.

He steps forwards to help them — take responsibility for them — but gasps as an explosion of blue fire blinds him, and when he regains his senses, instead of seeing the baby turtles, there was only a huge piece of the ceiling in their place... squashing them. He could... see one of the legs poking out, red smeared all over...

His eyes go wide, and he steps back, covering his mouth with his hand. Those innocent ones... dead.

They were gone... because of him. Because he was too late.

That day, he had run like a coward, not even giving the young ones a proper burial, leaving shame and regret to follow right behind his newly acquired tail.

He finds a way home, back to New York, but in his new form, he could no longer return to normalcy.

Off to the sewers, where a rat like him deserves to be. Making a little home for himself, a whole lair in fact! But the place was huge, too big for just one person. He offhandedly wonders what he would've done if he had been able to save those poor turtles. And yet, he was too much of a coward to try and look for another way.

He knows that Baron Draxum is looking for him, so must be Big Mama, so he stays hidden, away from the Hidden City. Away from his mistakes, and from his past.

Like a rat from a cat, hiding in the shadows.

Splinter sighs, settling into his chair, letting his regrets drown him as he numbly watches his broken television through the static, barely working — barely hanging on, just like him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its pretty short, but yeah! This will not be the last we see of Splinter! Though he is pretty broken right now... yikes.
> 
> Don’t worryyyyy, he’ll be fine, probably.


	2. 1 - Leonardo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leonardo had been left behind under rubble, leg stuck under a piece of concrete.
> 
> The others are gone — their scents are _gone_ — and he is _panicking_.
> 
> He calls for help, but no one comes.
> 
> Until someone does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much thanks to [Shadow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TMNTLovingLeo) for beta-ing!!
> 
> She provided a lot of amazing insight into Leo's character that I would have never been able to do myself!!

Draxum's feet land on solid ground with a clack, and he feels his heart sink as his eyes scour the extent of the damage.

There is an annoying ring in his ears, with him still recovering from the explosions that happened practically point-blank range to his ear, and everything is just _ruined_ , and... And yet, all he feels is numb as he stands in front of the burning building that was once his workplace — his _home._ Now all that remained was char and ash, the ruins of the building lying in a sad heap of smoking wood and melting metal.

"My life's work..." He mumbles and stares blankly. All of his experiments, his potions, his _everything_.

All of it... _gone_.

In just one day, everything he has worked so hard to achieve had fallen into nothing but ruin and wayward trash. And there was only one perpetrator.

All because of that _wretched_ Lou Jitsu..!

Rage makes his fists clench, as he narrows his eyes, his mind churning out revenge filled thoughts rapidly.

He swears, once he gets his hands on that _insolent_ rat, he'll _wish_ he was dead. He'll wish he was rather being slowly flayed alive by an Arachthria, or even in a Dorargon's stomach burning alive rather than fall into Draxum's grasps once more. He sneered at nothing in particular as his head continued to think of the many ways to torture the newly mutated ex-battle nexus champion.

He didn't care to move just yet, even as he hears the two goyles start chattering up behind him.

"We are so sorry... that Lou Jitsu did this to your lab. That's L-O-U J-I-T-S-U." One spoke up, fluttering next to his head.

"But at least your loyal hard-working gargoyles saved your life," The other one adds in as well, on the alternate side.

Draxum equally ignored both.

"It will take years to rebuild... I must begin again." He turns, leaving in ]a silent stride, mental gears in his mind turning to concoct a new plan for his goals. Focused on the huge goal at hand, he barely snaps out of it long enough to hear one of the goyles speak from behind him/

"Hey. Wait, boss, isn't that one of the turtles?"

He stops in his tracks immediately, snapping his head around. The speaker was focused on something, squinting at whatever it was, then rubbing his eyes to see if he hadn't just imagined it. He turns to them, pointing at the general direction he was looking at earlier.

"Impossible, nothing could survive that wreckage..." He mutters, quick to wave off the goyle's notification as simply false, refusing to give the other the benefit of the doubt. After all, it was simply better to accept he had lost everything than having hope that it was true only to be disappointed that it had simply been a rock that resembled a turtle or the like. The red-eyed goyle — the chubbier one, Muggin'? Moonim... Draxum was not sure — just rolls his eyes, and goes to check it out.

After a moment, he hears grunting and a breathless goyle just out of view.

"Augh! He's- he's kinda stuck under the rubble! Hey, Huginn, help me out here!!" The other calls out, and the goyle turns back to Draxum. "Just- just hold on a sec'." He nervously laughs and flies off, as the yokai hears a passing "I swear Muninn if you ruin our chances..." before disappearing from view.

" _Oh_ \- oh wow, he's _really_ stuck in there, huh?"

Draxum's eyebrows burrow even more as his frown deepens, curiosity winning over and he starts walking over to join them. He swears if this was some sort of joke or a prank...

Then he catches sight of it. The two goyles trying their hardest to push the rock away, right below it a confused and silently crying turtle — the red-eared slider. The baby had its mouth open as if trying to call out for help, but its voice too tired from screaming, now only coming out as small whispered trills. It looked to be in extreme pain, trying to get out of its trapped cage. Then upon seeing Draxum, someone familiar, both its hands reached out, wanting to be picked up as its tiny frame wracked up in sobs.

"Move." The alchemist says gruffly, and as the goyles clear away, he grunts, swiping his hand up and making tentacles rise from the ground, knocking off the rubble. Then, carefully, they surrounded the tiny turtle, and gently picked him up by the shell. Draxum's eyes focused on how tiny the turtle was, bigger than he was before definitely, but merely only the size of his two hands. If... if only it was completed, he would already be a _soldier_ by now.

"Wow, I can't believe he survived that! Must be one tough cookie." Muninn says, inspecting the other, who shied away, trying to hide further into the yokai's hands.

"Leonardo." He whispers, rubbing the burnt tag around its hand, now straining against the chubby arm. _It must be uncomfortable_ , Draxum thought. He easily cut the string holding it in place with his finger, letting it fall to the ground. He stares at the red-eared slider's eyes, who giggles at him, reaching out again, but unable to move from his damaged leg. "No matter, you still have Lou Jitsu's DNA. I will train you to be the ultimate soldier! And you shall become the yokai's savior! Come now, let us go, we must start treating your injuries and we can begin your training!"

Draxum grins. Well, at least today was not a complete failure.

* * *

"Dada." 2-year-old Leo says suddenly, while Draxum is looking at his leg for any health problems.

It had been a normal day, nothing out of the ordinary. Ordering Huginn and Muninn to bring the boy from his crib and as he arrived, he would check on his foot to see if anything was becoming a problem, then the boy would be sent away, free to play while Draxum waits for him to grow up into the proper size.

But then Leo had finally spoken.

He remembers the last time he attempted to actively try to gauge the other’s verbal progression.

**"Draxum."**

**....**

**"Say Draxum."**

**....**

**Draxum sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Leo looks at him with wide beady eyes, confusion clashing with the other's frustrations. He meets the infant's gaze before continuing to write onto his notepad: 'Leonardo's mutation has been incomplete, reducing what should've been a soldier to the thought process and body of a child. The continuous growth of height and weight suggests that he is physically growing, though there have been no signs of intelligence nor understanding me aside from normal infancy motions. Will continue to learn more about him.'**

"Excellent! You can speak now! How about we re-start your verbal lessons this afternoon?" Draxum says with a smile, concluding that at least there seemed to be no problem with the learning process, as he continues to progress. The mutagen seemed to have no effect on the mind at least, only mutating the turtle to grow up like a human.

Though, he side-notes the mutant had called him 'dada', a form of affectionate name reserved for parents and parental figures, and a common term for infants to learn first. But he was not its _father_. He was a scientist with his experiment — and soon a master with his obedient servant and soldier. Not a father with his son.

It's alright. He'll remove that falsity eventually. This was only the first step to something _great_.

* * *

"Eat. It is good for you." Draxum exclaims, pushing the spoon into the 3-year-old's cheek as if to rouse him to open his mouth and gratefully accept the food.

"Nuh-uh."

He could feel a vein throb in his head.

Out of all the things Draxum expected to do today, it was feeding a grumpy toddler. The turtle had made incredible progress in his literacy, learning words faster than even he had expected — and he admits that he had put the bar exceptionally high —, though he seemed easily bored with books, and the words he's learned doesn't translate well to speech, only resulting in baby babble. Still, reviewing his test results from his writing, it isn't hard to tell that the verbal mastery will follow much quicker than with normal infants.

Another factor was his health as well, ever since that day he had found him stuck under the rock, and despite losing a leg to the incident — having needed amputation after it was discovered that the limb was paralyzed — though Draxum takes notes that he feels phantom pain, he doesn't seem to be affected by it all that much. Easily, he could be trained into a proper soldier, once he finishes growing up into the proper size, which should be around a few years from now, he summarizes. He can wait, he has been _very_ patient with this project, had been for so long, what's a few more years? All in all, Draxum had been very pleased with the progress.

But, as with all sunshine rays and silver lining, there was only one problem: he _refused_ to do any activity without Draxum present, and continues to do so with no clear reason as to _why_!

Even now, when he had ordered Huginn and Muninn to feed him, the boy had refused to even look at them, and any sort of trickery that forced the food into his mouth had resulted in a face full of oatmeal and an even angrier toddler.

"Eat, Leonardo, or by the council, there will be consequences!”

Leo just looks away, pouting. "Nah."

"Argh! What do you want from me!?" He finally asks angrily, giving up.

"Airpwane." The toddler answered simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?"

He holds out a hand and flies it around his face, before sticking it in his mouth, then pulling it out, now full of saliva as he pats it on the table.

"Airpwane."

Draxum groans, remembering how the toddler must've seen it on TV In one of his shows. He could easily just submit to the toddler's request, it was needed after all if he were to grow into a proper trainable student. But his pride refused to.

"That is disgusting! And _no_ , I am not doing that." He growls, holding the spoon like a sword and trying to shoot it in his mouth, but the toddler looks away once more, just as stubborn as he was earlier.

"Just eat already! Why are you being so difficult!?"

"Dada feed Leo. Use Airpwane. Pwease?" He says, pointing at Draxum's hand and into his mouth.

"I _know_ what you want, and I'm telling you it's not gonna happen! And stop calling me your 'dada', I am _not_ your father."

" _Daddy_ no airpwane, then Leo no eat."

Draxum bellows in anger, throwing the spoon into the oatmeal, making it spill and some of it getting splattered onto Leo's face as a result.

"Then _STARVE_!!" He storms off, turning away just in time to miss the scared worried look that flashes on the other's face.

He passes the two goyles fluttering right outside the door, as they follow him.

"Don't you think that was a bit too harsh, Boss? He's just a kid." Muninn asks, before getting elbowed by the other.

"He _needs_ to grow up then because soldiers do not need 'airpwanes'. And he certainly does not need a _dada_. He's already three, yet he doesn't even know how to say words properly!" He rants angrily, clenching his fists. “He should at the very least know how to form a proper sentence!! Augh! If only the mutation wasn’t interrupted!!”

He keeps going, undisturbed, until they finally reach his workplace, as he shuts the door with a loud slam, making the other two goyles who were following right behind him to confusedly hit the closed-door with their faces at full-force.

"Ow! Hey, we're right here! Oh- nope, I forgot. Soundproof doors. Gosh, what is up with him!? We _both_ know he should've put the doggy doors _at the top._ Like, seriously, we are flying creatures — goyles!” Huginn sighs, sitting on the floor with a sigh. "When will we ever get some respect around here. I _still_ smell like oatmeal, ya know!" He rants to the other, who nods in response, but seems to be deep in thought.

After a while, he finally speaks up.

"Hey, Huginn, maybe we should check up the kid."

"Why, so he can spit at our faces again? Hard pass. I'm with Draxum on this one."

"Yeah, but don't you remember when we were tiny babies? We were young and stupid and useless then we got these baller wings! We couldn't even talk at all when we were still in our eggs."

"I'm pretty sure I came out of the egg talking, that's what my mom always said before she kicked me off to boot camp." Huginn hummed, but the other just rolled his eyes.

"Just- come on, let's at least see what he's doing." And before Huginn could protest, Muninn was already flying away, him having to flap extra hard to catch up to his best friend.

"I don't know why you're so worried about the kid, he's just an annoying mean buttface!"

The chubbier-looking of the two doesn't respond, only glancing at him with a look that accused him of being immature. They round the corner only to find Leo sitting there, staring at his food with wide doe eyes, but still not eating.

"Kid?" He asks. "Hey."

Leo looks up, hoping it was Draxum, only to find the goyles, and frowns, looking away. There were tears in his eyes though, as he sniffled, rubbing them away.

Just a kid, after all.

"Dada mean." He mumbles, hiding his face from the others, but still obviously sniveling.

"Yeah, Draxum can be a meanie sometimes, but he just wants you to grow big and strong like he is!" Muninn says as he lands on his shoulder, patting his head.

"Are you really _talking_ to him? You're wasting your time. Just let him starve, and soon enough he'll be stuffing his face in and begging for seconds." Huginn sighed, but Muninn glared at him.

"Stop talking like Draxum, next thing you know you'll become as grumpy as he is. No, wait, that's already you." Leo laughs a little to the chagrin of the skinnier goyle, who scoffs, having a retort hot on his tongue before the other shushes him, turning his attention back to the baby turtle.

"Want airpwane." The toddler explains once more.

"You want me to do the airplane for you instead?"

Leo shakes his head. "Only dada."

"You'll die if you don't eat, though."

" _Dai_..? Like... like dem? Like da' others? In da box..?" He asks, voice dropping to a whisper as if talking about a secret.

Muninn has no idea who he's talking about but nods anyway. "Yeah, like the others."

Leo becomes silent for a moment, as if pondering this. "I don't wanna leave Dada alone." He says slowly, finally saying a proper sentence.

"There we go!" Muninn grins smugly, sticking his tongue out to Huginn who mimicked the action, looking away and crossing his hands instead of responding.

"I eat. Only when turn on TV. Please?" He points at the big black screen.

"Draxum says no TV if he's misbehaving, _remember_?" Huginn reminds, and Leo sneers at him.

"It's fine, he doesn't need to know! He's probably still sulking that Leo doesn't listen to him." Muninn swats the idea of punishment away. "He'll be glad to hear that Leo's gonna eat! Come on bring him here."

Leo glares at Huginn, who flaps and rests on his shoulders, before pulling him up from the baby chair and onto the carpeted floor as he holds onto his bowl of oatmeal, just in time for Muninn to retrieve the remote and turn it on.

...

It takes them 12 minutes and 28 seconds to fall asleep, Leo counted. He was smart at Math... counting time... Dada gave him candy that one time as a treat.

The memory makes Leo smile a little, only to be stifled by the most recent one of the other shouting at him.

As both of his caretakers sleep soundly in front of the TV, Leo crawls away, slowly inching his way to Draxum's office and bringing the bowl of oatmeal with him. He slowly but surely gets there, stopping right in front of the menacingly huge door. He gets on his feet, wobbly, but manages to balance enough to slip through the doggy door meant for the goyles.

He grabs the bowl through the door, spilling some onto the floor, but manages to grab it without the spoon falling off.

"Dada." He whispers as to not alert the goyles, trying to step forwards only to fall to his butt, unable to stand longer than a few seconds. Draxum, too engrossed in his work to notice, continues to stare at it, and Leo only takes it as the yokai ignoring him though, so he takes a deep breath and...

"DADA!!" Leo yells to get the other's attention.

He jumps, swiveling around and surrounding the enemy with sharp fast-moving tentacles, clearly expecting anyone _but_ the toddler. Once he realizes who it was that sat in front of him, he quickly retreats the appendages, confusion laced in his expression as he steps forwards, kneeling low to meet the other's gaze.

"Leo, how are you here? Who let you in?"

"Dada feed Leo. Leo hungy. Airpwane bwoom bwoom." He says, offering the bowl of oatmeal in his hand, raising it up. His face is already messy, despite not having eaten a single drop.

Draxum felt his eye twitch. _Not again_...

"I _already_ told you, you either eat it yourself, or you can starve."

"Do Dada hate Leo?" The question surprised him. He didn't even know Leo knew that word. "Dada don' like hanging out with Leo anymore. Dada think Leo dumb. Mm'sorry." He mumbles, tearing up once more as he sniffles, hugging the bowl closer.

“What, no, why would you…” Draxum trails off, sighing.

A soldier should not cry like this.

He pulls the turtle in closer.

"Fine. Come here, I'll feed you." He says, wiping the other's cheek and pulls him into his lap. "The airplane flies... and... goes through the mouth. Say aaah."

"Aaah."

Leo eats the oatmeal with no resistance, a satisfied smile on his face as he relaxes into the hug.

* * *

The moment Leo learns how to walk with a peg leg, he doesn't leave Draxum's side. Following the alchemist everywhere like a dog; to his office, to the kitchen, even to the _bathroom_!

"Stop." He finally says, grabbing the 5-year-old by the arms and pulls him up to eye-level.

"Daddy!" He giggles, plopping his hands on the alchemist's cheeks.

"No, I am not your 'daddy', I am _Draxum_. How many times must I say this?" He reminds once more but tiredly lets the boy touch his face all over.

"Daddy Draxum."

" _No_."

"Dada?"

"No!"

"Papa."

"I said stop it." He says with finality, walking to the other's room and placing him on the bed. The room itself was simple, though quite big in its design. The whole room was blue as per the request of the child — it being his favorite color and all — even the sheets and floor were just different shades. Glow in the dark lights stuck on top of the ceiling that Leo picked up at the mall while shopping, two babysitting goyles helping out in decorating as well.

"Stop following me everywhere, okay? You only do it when I tell you to. Understand?"

"Okee," Leo says, playing with his sheets, and acts as if disinterested.

But Draxum _knows_ better.

The yokai takes a step back, but not turning away just yet, in case the boy starts walking towards him again. Another step, and another. Leo is still playing with his sheets, humming that wretched cookie cereal theme song on television that he's heard him sing for the umpteenth time this week.

Finally, when Draxum is satisfied with the distance, he turns and closes the door, before walking away.

He doesn't hear footsteps, nor the door open, so he assumes the best and moves on. Huginn and Muninn behind him are giggling though, yet he doesn't know what's funny.

"What is it?" He finally snaps, turning to them, exasperated.

"Uhhh, Boss, you got a little something on your cape..." Huginn says through tearful giggling.

And when Draxum turns to look behind him, he spots the blue shelled _menace_ hanging onto his cape. He looks up at him with a grin, as the other two burst out laughing.

Draxum just lets out an incredibly tired sigh, picking him up and doing the same thing once again.

* * *

"Focus, Leonardo!" Draxum growls, as his protégé yawns, blocking a nearby attack.

"Daaaad, I'm tired, I'm gonna go to my room, kay'?" He says, casually slicing a tentacle that tries to surprise him from behind.

Leonardo, age 6, and an absolute piece of work as he starts walking away without Draxum's permission.

"Once more I am—"

"— _'not your dad'_ , yeah yeah I get the drill, can we _stop_ now?" He asks, bored. When the other doesn't answer, he smirks lazily. "Yeah, okay? Silence means yes, no take backs! Cool, I'm just gonna go now!"

"Oh, so you're saying you surrender?"

"Wha-hat? No way, I could _totally_ beat you with my eyes closed." He says, but the moment he sees his dad's face, he knows he messed up.

"Does a warrior stop fighting on the battlefield because they are a better fighter than the other, Leonardo?" His voice is threateningly low, and it sends shivers down Leo's spine.

The turtle takes a deep breath, his lips thinning. _Oh boy_ , his mind unhelpfully supplies because he _knows_ what was coming next.

"Uh, well, actually I-" His eyes widen as Draxum's face darkens.

In a moment of what Leo could only describe as the calm before the storm, he clenches his swords as Draxum suddenly unleashes a torrent of wall and tentacle combo attacks. The turtle dodges as best as he can, before getting caught by a wall surprise, having to defend himself as his leg muscles ache, his peg starts making noises it probably should not be making, as his hands shake from the pressure of stalling getting crushed by a _freaking wall_. Finally, a rogue tentacle gets to him, sending him sprawling across the floor, knocking his swords away as he loses his breath from the force.

Draxum walks towards him, disdain, and irritation in his expression as he holds a hand out.

"Remember your place, _mutant_. Pride and ignorance on the battlefield will _be your demise_. Do you understand?"

"... yes." Leo says as he reaches out and clasps the other's hand, pulling himself up to stand on his leg. The word hurts — _mutant_. Not once has Draxum called Leo his son, not even family.

"The others died because they were weak. You are _stronger_ than all of them. You alone survived. You must become as strong as Lou Jitsu- no, you must become _better_ than him!"

Every misfortune in Leo's life — in his _dad's_ life (he _refused_ to give up, he wasn't just gonna be some expendable _soldier_ ) — was because of _Lou Jitsu_. He hears stories of him, how he was the greatest Battle Nexus champion _ever_. And how he ruined dad's work. How he _killed_ the _others_ with no remorse. Leo wanted to ask him _why_? _Why_ he did what he did, and whatever dirt poor excuse he would give _Leo won't ever forgive, and then as he stares deep into the man's eyes he will end his pitiful existence._

Well, _hypothetically_ speaking, that is. There's been no sighting of the guy since like... forever. Who knew if he was even actually alive? Someone might've already beat him to it — judging by his horrible past, Leo doubts he hasn’t wronged anyone else. But if no one has... if he's still alive...

Then he had to get stronger.

Dad was right. He's _always_ right, even if Leo didn't wanna admit it.

"Actually, ya' know what pops', let's go again." He says with a determined look, flexing his wrist and spinning the dual swords in his hands in unison, getting into a battle position once more. Draxum smirks, standing taller, as he readies his hands.

"That's the spirit! And don't call me 'pops'."

"You got it, daddy-o!" Leo smiles, popping out his signature devilish smirk as he gets into a battle stance.

Draxum could feel the grey hairs on his head multiply exponentially.

* * *

"Wow, what's that?" Leo asks, pulling at Draxum's robe to point at the shiny colorful machines beeping and blinking, flashing bright lights as other children play at them.

Leo, age 7, had finally been allowed to join in on the other's grocery expeditions — after countless _days_ of insistent begging, the yokai finally _cracked_ —, and he had been ecstatic to do so. I mean, he's read about the Hidden City for years now, and practically memorized the map at this point, as he hurriedly put on an extra-large shirt made specifically for him to accomodate for his shell, and some shorts, along with sneakers’, the bottom heel extra fitted to make his back toe more comfortable.

He wasn't allowed to go anywhere except Draxum's side, but that was enough for the turtle mutant who stared in awe at the gorgeous lights, colorful merchandise, and friendly faces all around the huge, _huge_ world Leo has never seen before.

" _That_ is an arcade," Draxum explains with disdain.

"Ar...cade..? What's an arcade?"

"It's a waste of time is what it is."

"C'monnnn, pretty please tell me?" He asks, putting on his best puppy-dog eyed pleading expression.

Draxum sighs, as he puts down the fruit he was inspecting to fully face the other.

"It is a place where young yokai go to play 'games' and have fun." Before Leo can try begging the other to let him go, he speaks up once more, turning back to his list. "You do not need to play games, you're only here to _watch._ You are a _soldier,_ boy. Act like one."

Leo physically deflates, sighing as he watches from afar as a little girl owl nudges the sparrow one, as she puts in a coin, mashing buttons. They looked like they had no care in the world.

It just looked so... _fun_.

…

A few moments later, Leonardo has cooked up a plan, after inspecting the scenery.

He waves his hands around, trying to catch the attention of Muninn who was perched on Draxum's shoulder. He perks up an eyebrow, confused. Leo points at the arcade, uses his fingers to simulate tiptoeing, then points at Draxum, and points at a blonde looking owl yokai lady who is heading for a fruit stand near the goatman.

Muninn nods.

"Hey Draxum those tomatoes look really fresh, you should get some too.... yeah, no- that one, yeah- _right there_ that one!" The goyle points and Draxum's hand ends up on the same one as the old lady's, who has a shiny golden ring right on her ring finger.

" _Excuse_ me!? I am _married_!"

"What- no, I am not interested in yokai of your kind-" Draxum starts, but the old lady just gasps, now offended, and has begun to angrily rant at him, causing a crowd to form in confusion as it escalates, easily allowing Leo to sneak off.

He giggles, running off, crossing the streets with a twirl, looking around at the sights and takes a moment to really stare; the whole place just looked so _alive_ , with the wooden stalls aligning on the sidelines selling all types of merchandise and necessities, and marketplaces, buildings, and stadiums, stockful of neon signs displaying advertisements of an array of products. The lights hanging from the ceiling glowed so brightly against the dim shadows overtaking the area, and differently aged posters scattered across wood, metal, rock, and cement, contrasting greatly from the bland white walls back at home. And unlike inside the lonely house Leo has lived in his whole life, everywhere he looked there were yokai of different kinds, huge and small, furry, and some even skinless.

But those weren’t what he wanted to focus on, no. He only had short time to spare.

He pauses, stopping in front of it just a second to admire the view. The architecture looked old, and a little wet, but inside was stock full of machinery — arcade machines? — that looked super futuristic by his standards, nothing Leo has ever seen before. He sneakily goes in, keeping his head low, even as he gasps at the animated 8-bit pixels dancing around the screens, heading up to the man who was some sort of huge chubby pug yokai sitting in front of the counter, in a red uniform that barely fits him, reading a comic book.

"Five coins, please." He says, and the man holds out a big furry claw.

Leo stares at it for a moment, then clasps it, shaking it.

The man jolts from his seat, pulling back.

"The hell!?" He yells. Now Leo is fully confused, looking around to see who's attention he's attracted. Draxum warned him about this; of kidnappers and murderers that could be lurking anywhere at any time. But it doesn't seem anyone has noticed anything. Like this was _normal_?

"Five coins. Please?" He asks again, more politely this time, thrumming his fingers against the counter.

"The money, kid." The other says in frustration, massaging his head, then slumps forwards to reach the other's height. "Your first time here, huh?"

Leo nods.

He sighs. "Don't your parents give you an allowance? You know... money, that you need to give me in exchange for the coins."

"Parents?" He asks, having not heard of the word before. The other's eyebrows quirk, as he leans forwards, voice dropping to a gruff mumble.

"You know... A mom?"

...

"Dad?"

"Oh! Yeah..! Dad. Dad gives you money? Isn't he too busy?" He asks, confused as to why Draxum would give this man money. Didn't he say it himself that arcades were a waste of time?

"No I-... everyone has moms and dads, kid, not just- _wow,_ your life sounds really sad." The man says quietly, face as if trying to solve the world's hardest puzzle.

"It does?"

"That just makes it sound sadder! Okay... look, kid. You don't... Uh... you're not being... neglected at home, are you?"

"I don’t think so? Dad teaches me n' stuff. Then we eat together and he teaches me sword fighting—"

"Sword fighting!?"

"Yeah! Do you do it too? Well, there's tons of weapons — there's also maces, and well there were also these taller sword looking weapons — though Dad says I gotta stick with these swords first and master them before we try anything else... looking at you though, you probably seem really good at a big one so—"

"Woah woah, calm down! That- _wow,_ I-... I don't get paid enough for this." The dog sighs, blinking, and massaging his snout. "Look, why don't you just go bother someone else? I got enough stress as it is, and you're... uh... sob story is making me really depressed. As much as I want to believe you — I really do —, your whole life sounds straight out of a comic book, and I've already been in trouble for giving out free coins before, one more strike and this job is as good as gone."

Leo blinks, and he remembers Draxum's earlier bargain with a seller.

"Listen, we can make an offer. You give me some tokens or..." Leo stops for a moment, metaphorically sweating bullets as his mind tries to rack up a reason as to why the other should. "... O-or I break _everything_ in here. Yeah! That's right!"

"This... isn't exactly a place you can bargain in, kid? And _you,_ break everything in here? You look like you can barely lift a chair! How can you—"

Leo narrows his eyes at him, putting on the most threatening face he can make.

The employee just raises an eyebrow as he saunters over onto a nearby arcade machine, still trying to look scary.

"HhHHhHHhHHHH—" He huffs, trying to lift it, before stopping for a moment, out of breath. "W- wait- I..." He tries again, grunting.

The nearby yokai just slowly walks away, confused and concerned.

"... jeez, fine. C'mere..." He grunts, calling the boy over. Leo obliges, rubbing his hands together to clear some of the aching, regretting his attempts.

The mutt looks around, before grabbing his hand, placing something inside. "Here... try one." He sighs, looking around, and glancing cautiously at the CCTV camera turning its head around.

Leo gasps at the shiny coin and smiles gingerly at the other.

"Wow! Thanks, mister..?"

"It's Horris, dude. You?”

"I-it’s Leonardo, but you can call me Leo." He says with a sheepish look, as he glances back at the coins. “Thank you, Mister Horris!”

“Dude cut it out with the mister part I’m only 15, you’re making me feel old.”

He nods curtly, before moving his attention away to an interesting-looking arcade machine — one with a cute hedgehog character that was themed with his favorite color. He was standing triumphantly on display before it showed what seemed to be a preview of the gameplay, as the character rolled, jumped, and collected rings like coins.

Maybe Draxum wasn't _always_ right.

Leo wasn't dead yet after leaving his side for three seconds. And not everyone was out to get him! Like Mister Horris!

Leo glances at the other kids in their intense battles against what seemed to be a countdown; one yokai slammed the pedal — he was riding some sort of racing simulation, banging into a wall, and then swerving to the right to continue on. Another was using two sticks and slamming them into the drum looking contraption in rhythm to the beats on screen. Finally, he spots someone who’s using a similar machine to his, with the stick and buttons layout. He stares as they move the stick and then at the screen.

So, the stubby thing at the left was for moving, the other buttons… he didn’t know so much about it. Well, they seemed to be for… fighting..? The character on screen was kicking, and punching, and rolling, against another.

“Hey kid, you good? By the Council, do you need help playing the game too? How sheltered are you?” Horris asks from behind him as he jolts, being pulled out of his thoughts.

“N-nah, I’m okay.” He says, slotting a coin in like he’s seen everyone do.

“Wrong hole.” Then he snickers, when he sees the other try pushing it in the bottom, only to be confused when it just rolls back out. as he adds. “That’s what she said…”

“Oh, right! That’s what- wha?” Leo asks, confused. Who said what now? The pug just chuckles and looks away. “Don’t worry about it.”

Leo gives him a suspicious glance, before turning back to the two slots, placing it in the top one with a clink.

He looks back up, at the game starts, and begins to move the character around…

… and immediately falls into the first hole.

Leo is confused when the death animation plays.

“What happened? Where is the blue guy?” He asks the other.

“You died, dude. If you fall from a hole, you die, and if you encounter enemies you gotta dodge them. You gotta jump on that one gap, and be more careful. You only get 3 lives.” He explains, sounding disinterested.

“Died..?” Leo mumbles, not really a question, as he stares at his shoes, brows knitted together. The other doesn’t notice the shift in attitude, though, and carries on.

“Yeah, died, kaputz, no more living, etcetera etcetera.”

“Died…”

The others… gone.

Four turtles.

One left.

And suddenly, everything feels cold, as Leo stares blankly at the screen, not really registering the “YOU DIED!” imagery. The sides of his vision are blacking, everything feels _wrong,_ what was he doing _here-_

“You good?” He asks, and the other snaps out of it once more.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m good…” he says, as the character reloads.

Unlike the game… there was no coming back from dying the first time.

Two more lives.

He shakes his head, focusing on the game. That kind of stuff was for late at night to think about, not right now in this once in a lifetime experience, when he was running out of time for the game. He pretends to not notice when his hands start to shake, as he grips the joystick more tightly, sneakily glancing at Horris to check if he’s noticed.

He hasn’t.

Leo now is more cautious, first testing how the characters move in sync to the joystick. Left - left, right - right, down - squat, up - jump. Right up - right jump, same with the other. Right down - slide.

The character walks to the right and jumps over the hole.

“There you go! Good job.”

Leo glances at him a smile, and then focuses back on the game, finding a small turtle enemy. “Oh!” Leo, however, did not know this.

“Wait no, don’t-“ He hears Horris start up again from beside him, sounding slightly startled, but it was too late, as Leo moves forwards to attempt to talk to it...

And dies.

“What!? _Why_!?” He asks, sounding exasperated.

“That… was an enemy. You’re supposed to dodge or kill them or whatever.”

“... but why? What did I do to them? What did they do to me?”

“I don’t know dude, it's just how the game works. Ask the developer, not me.”

It's just how life works.

Never trust anyone.

 _Everybody will eventually hurt you_.

Maybe Draxum _was_ right.

Leo is really getting the wrong lessons from this game, and Horris remains blissfully unaware.

And now, only 1 life left.

Leo is moving immediately, knowing that he can move the moment the numbers that flash on the screen disappear he’s allowed to move, running, jumping the gaps, squashing the enemies, and running and running, surprising the other how easily the kid’s learned the game.

“ _Woah_ , dude, you’re playing like a speedrunner.”

He didn't know what that word meant, focus entirely on the game, narrowing his eyes in concentration. Running, and running, and running and never looking back.

Until…

A spike gets the best of him, right before he gets to the flag.

“Aw, man.” Leo sighs under his breath, as the big bold letters showed: **‘GAME OVER’**.

“That was pretty good though, for your first game! Are you sure this is the first time you’ve played?” He asks, only slight suspicion in his voice, though it was mostly just joshing around.

“I didn’t even know what an arcade was before today…” Leo mumbles a little, embarrassed at the compliment. He glances at the clock tacked onto the far wall and flinches. That much time has passed _already_!? “I got to go, though. Thank you, again!” He says, waving goodbye, before walking away. The pug yokai just waves back, before huffing, glancing at the GAME OVER screen blinking back into the title screen, before turning to his magazine again. 

“Sword fighting…” He mumbles under his breath, going back to his magazine. “Jeez, if you wanted to play the game just tell me.”

...

When Leo returns, his Dad is still arguing with the old lady, and now, her husband who had easily come from a phone call.

"No, Karen, it was an _accident—_ " Draxum groans, but the husband — a way bigger owl than she was — blocks her from view with his body, towering over the other, puffing his peachy white feathers as if to assert dominance.

"How dare you talk to my wife like that!"

"I'm calling the _police_! That was _harassment_!"

Leo sneakily positions himself behind Draxum again, high-fiving Muninn, as Huginn passes them a suspicious look, but looks away when Leo passes him a glare.

‘Mission: Go to an Arcade’ was a success.

* * *

Leo, age 8, enters Draxum's lab one random afternoon.

"Hey, hey. Hey Dad. Daddy."

"Shouldn't you be enjoying your free time instead of annoying me again?" He asks, clearly annoyed.

"Yeah, but annoying you is like, my favorite thing to do. Dad- Dad—"

" _What?"_

"What do you call a _cow_ with no legs?"

...

"Ground beef."

Leo laughs as he is dragged away by a tentacle and thrown out the room.

A few minutes later he hears the familiar tiptoeing of Leo as he squats next to Draxum's chair.

"Want to see something terrible, dad?"

"Go away, Leonardo, I am _working_." Draxum hisses out, trying to ignore the other trying to get into his line of sight.

"Oh come on you haven't even seen it yet."

The scientist narrows his eyes, slowly turning to the other, only to get a faceful of paper. The turtle stands up and rips it, revealing his wide toothy grin behind it.

"See? I told you it was _tear-_ able."

He gets kicked out a second time, and this time Draxum remembers to lock the door.

Fifteen minutes later he hears banging in the vents.

"LEO, GET _DOWN_ HERE YOUNG MAN!" He practically shouts and there's another loud bang and pained groaning before the turtle falls out.

"Hey there, n- _ice_ to see you." He says, pulling out the ice from seemingly out of nowhere and throwing them up in the air. They land on the floor, breaking apart with ease.

" _Where_ are you getting these idiotic jokes!?"

Leo dramatically gasps.

"They are _not_ idiotic!" He pulls out a dusty old looking book titled **'JOKEZ 4 IDIOTZ'** and flips through it furiously. "Here, you’ll LOVE this one. An atom loses an electron... it says, 'Man, I really gotta keep an _ion_ them.' Eh? _Eh??_ "

He bounces his eyebrows, but the other's face holds no reaction. Not a positive one, at least.

Leo gulps, anxiously laughing.

"Oh come _ooooon_ , you're a _scientist_ , you should be bending over laughing!" He hides his nervousness as he checks his book again, oblivious to the even tenser atmosphere. He tries to shrug it off by rebounding with another joke. "Oh _fine_ , okay okay, I got an even _better_ one, I-"

"ENOUGH! YOU NEED TO _STOP_ WASTING MY TIME WITH YOUR _POINTLESS_ KNICK KNACKS!! FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, _DO SOMETHING USEFUL,_ YOU _BUFFOON!_ " He shouts angrily, grabbing the book out of his hands and ripping it into shreds. Leo's jaw drops as the book — or what remains of it at least — falls to the ground, his eyes wide and tailing the pieces all the way to the ground.

Draxum's breath hitches when he sees the boy kneel, slowly grabbing and picking the ripped papers up, all jumbled and mixed together from different pages, as he pulls them close to his chest.

 _'The sight was tear-able.'_ The scientist could practically hear the boy say, practically predicting it, but he just stands up with the ripped up book saying nothing.

"Oh, ok... I... sorry." He mumbles, and it knocks all the fight in him.

"Wait, Leo..." He leaves before Draxum can say anything else, leaving the yokai to stare at his hands that he used to destroy something the turtle mutant loved.

_Later that night, Draxum stands right outside his room, an apology hot on his tongue, but he sees the other has already fallen asleep. Right next to his bed is the joke book, or the remains of it, as he tries to tape it back together again._

_He walks inside, careful not to make a sound, and tucks the other in properly, fixing the blanket to cover his whole body._

_He carefully takes the book into his hands and walks away._

* * *

The next day, Leo wakes up to a present next to his bed. It's even tied with a bright blue ribbon.

He opens it and gasps, gaining a huge smile at the sight of brand new joke books, and right at the very bottom, the original joke book taped and glued back together.

He busts into Draxum's lab and practically tackles him into a hug.

"THANK YOU, THANK YOU, _THANK YOU_ , DAD! I LOVE YOU!!"

"I am _not_ —" Draxum starts but sees the sheer joy on the other's face, and along with the affectionate word tossed into the air, he couldn't rain on the other's parade. Instead, he looks away, gently patting his head tenderly.

 _'Well..? What are you waiting for, Draxum?'_ He thinks to himself. _'Now would be the best time to...'_

"Leo, I... I am- I..."

"It's okay. I forgive you." He feels the hug tighten. And he doesn't even know he was holding his breath until he finally released it in relief.

But the hug only kept getting tighter and tighter.

"AuGh! You're gonna squash me with your bear hug!" He coughs and Leo lets go, looking at him with a smug expression.

"That's for calling me an idiot! I'm guessing the hug was too... un- _bear-_ able! Eh? _Eh?_ " He grins, and Draxum gets a sour look, almost regretting getting him the gifts. But he doesn't get mad. Instead, he gains a soft expression, seeing how happy the other looked.

"Okay, okay, fine, I fell into that one. Now go have fun with your..." He groans, sneering a little. "...funny books." 

Leo runs off, and Draxum can't help the flicker of a small smile on his face.

* * *

He slips into Draxum's secret labs one day.

He didn't mean to, it was just an accident. He had leaned backward, resting on a nearby wall, when it suddenly _rotated_ and pulled him along with it.

The perks of being the son of a warrior alchemist scientist, he guessed. Your house _never_ runs out of secret rooms.

He counts 37- now 38, and he's still finding new entrances!

Then he almost faints when he turns behind him, seeing sights — _horrible_ ones —; creatures mutated beyond recognition, local animals becoming abominations of nature, wishing only _death_. Eyes follow him around as he watches them back, breath hitching. One of them, a writhing mess of tentacles and eyes, yet no lips to scream out its pain and agony.

And in a single utterance of horror, he mumbles, "Woah... so _cool!_ "

He runs around, touching _literally_ everything.

"I cannot believe dad hid all these cool pets from me! Didn't know we owned a farm!"

Needless to say, _it was not a farm_.

"Aww, this one is so cute!" He sticks his face onto the glass, behind it a fish creature with five eyes staring at him, its sharp teeth on display. He explores around, waving and talking to each one of them, before he runs off, hearing Huginn and Muninn's exasperated voices echoing around the halls, no doubt looking for him in a panic.

* * *

"Does it feel painful?"

"Nope!"

"How about when I do this?" He pokes it.

"I already told you, dad, it feels fiiiine! Let me go already."

Leonardo was 10 when Draxum finally had a mechanical leg custom-made just for him. The boy was ecstatic to hear it — and though Leo would've really preferred to just use magic and the like to just give him a new leg, his dad refused to, always saying how there might be unexpected side effects.

The turtle could totally roll with this though.

Or _walk_ , hah, get it?

"Thanks, Dad!" He said, giving the other a big hug, before limping off, still trying to get used to the weight difference it had, contrary to the lighter peg leg.

"Sigh, for the last time, I am not—" But he was already gone.

...

A few minutes later, Huginn and Muninn fly a crying Leonardo back to Draxum.

"I can't believe you already broke it!! How irresponsible can you be!? Honestly, I am bewildered at your ability to-" Draxum continues to rant, as Leo sniffles, watching him remove the metal leg that was abnormally jerked 90° to the left, some parts completely bent, and other parts ripped wide open, flickering and sparking, exposing wires. "How did you even get it this destroyed!? You _just_ got it installed earlier!"

"I tried walking down the stairs- _*sniff*_ \- but then- _*sniffle*_ I- I-" He broke down into tears, covering his face with both hands to hide his shame and his pained expression.

"He fell down the stairs," Muninn added slowly, looking pitiful.

"It was kinda funny. He was like 'AAAH OW- ow- ow- my spleen- oWW'!" Huginn mimicked, laughing to himself, only to be smacked by a nearby Leo, still tearing up, his face now red from embarrassment and anger.

"You..." Draxum sighs, massaging his head. "Be more careful next time, alright? I'd rather not have to buy you a new prosthetic limb. And I don't need a broken _soldier_."

Leo only somehow cried even more, but Draxum only shrugs it off as him recoiling from the physical pain, oblivious to how the boy immediately leaves once it's fixed, giving him the cold shoulder.

* * *

He lays down, feeling his shell touch the glass with a small thud, still sniffling a little, as he stares blankly at the wall in front of him.

"Dad was mean to me again today."

...

"He called me a soldier! Like... how could he call his own _son_ that?"

....

"I-... I don't know if we're actually related... I saw how turtle yokai are made, and he’s… he’s not exactly a turtle... and I don't have a mom but... he made me with his ooze. He took care of me. That has to count for something right?"

.....

"Y-yeah! You're right! He loves me, he probably just... has a weird way of showing it."

Leo smiles, standing up as he wipes his tears away.

"Thanks, Junifer! You're the best listener." He says, patting the glass containing the writhing mass of limbs that was the tentacle mutant. All 50 of her eyes staring at him, blinking simultaneously, before he smiles, hugging her glass capsule.

Huginn and Muninn watch right outside the door.

"Jeez, this kid really needs proper friends," Huginn whispers to Muninn.

"That I can actually agree with you on."

* * *

Leo dodges the attack, swift as a fox, as he swoops down from under it, using it as leverage to jump.

Expecting the attack from above, he hops from the first tentacle to the other and swings from it before the two side walls racing towards him could crush him.

The moment his feet land onto the ground he wastes no time running, avoiding the rising pillars shooting out from below in a zigzag, then accelerated, becoming a blur as he raced towards Draxum's prone body.

The yokai threw another tentacle from the sides, only to gasp when Leo jumped into the air, mechanical leg first as he yelled out a battle cry.

Draxum's eyes light up when he sees Lou Jitsu in the way both Leo's feet slam into his arms and catches a glimpse of the ruthlessness he's trained into the other through a sword being jammed next to his neck. The other's eyes almost seemed to glow against the light, a smug smirk on his face. If only he didn't hear the next words that escaped the turtle's mouth.

"Uno!"

"Leo, that's not what you say when you win," Draxum says, his face immediately dropping into a sour frown.

"King me, baby!"

The alchemist would have already facepalmed if his hand was free.

* * *

"Today will be a little different, Leo," Draxum says, watching the other gouge on his cereal like a man who hasn't eaten for days.

"Hmnow shmmow?" He asks, muffled by the full mouth, a little bit of the milk dribbling down from his chin which he quickly wipes away.

"You'll see..."

A few hours later...

Leo stretches, flexing his wrists a little before unsheathing the swords from his belt.

"So who'm I gonna fight? Huginn? I've been _so_ waiting to beat his little butt up!" Leo smirks as the aforementioned goyle flinches a little on Draxum's shoulder.

"No, though I permit you to use him as a punching bag later." The goat yokai disregards the small hiss of smug joy escaping the other's mouth, along with the rembling on his left shoulder. "Your opponent will be much more... uncivilized than that."

"More than Huginn? Huginn, who I saw adding _salt_ into my juice? And who I then proceeded to switch my drinks with?"

Huginn gives the other a stink eye, and Leo sticks his tongue out in retribution.

 _'That's for snitching on me!'_ He mouths.

 _'I hope you burn in hell.'_ Huginn mouths back.

_'With you here, I'm already there!!'_

Draxum ignores them both, instead choosing to walk towards the wall and pulls the switch, as a rabid looking pony mutant neighs, huffing angrily, its eyes glowing red.

"Now, let's see how you fare with an opponent who is unpredictable and wild."

Instead, Leo unexpectedly stuffs his swords back in their sheaths and runs forwards, arms spread out for a hug and just lets it jump all over him, as the pony licks his face, its neighs becoming way friendlier with the turtle than when the two goyles had to wrangle it before.

"Neon, aww, I love you too!" Leo giggles, hugging the other, both of them on the floor. "You're my best friend! Yes, you are!!"

Draxum really reconsiders homeschooling him.

* * *

"Leo, meet Big Mama. She will be managing you for a while." Draxum says to a 10-year-old Leo who is hiding behind his back. He's gotten slightly taller, now reaching up to Draxum's hips.

He'd finally gotten the feel of the new leg, easily adding it into his fighting style of speed and offense, and had bested his father on multiple occasions. So much so that Draxum had decided Leo was getting too used to only having him as a sparring partner, and that he needed a place where he knew nothing of other than rumors. A place where nobody was his ally. A clean slate.

And what better way to learn more techniques, to figure out how to adapt quickly into a situation than the Battle Nexus — thousands of fighters rearing to prove their worth — providing the cleanest of slates.

Draxum was wearing his mask now, outside their home — Leo had never been outside the house before without company _and Dad was gonna leave him here alone_ — and he didn't know _what_ it was about the pretty purple lady or this place, but he did _not like her._ Despite being almost the same height as Leo, he felt extremely intimidated by her. She gave off horrible vibes, ones that spelled death and betrayal for anyone who associated with her.

"Oh what an absolutely _adorable_ cream pie you've brought me this fine morning, Draxxy!" She steps forwards, her eyebrows raised and an innocent-looking smile grazes her lips as she bends over to squeeze his cheeks, but an attack he easily dodges by shifting to the other side of his dad. "He truly is such a sweetheart! Although, I simply _must_ remind you that I do not run a _daycare_ here."

"I know that." He says with narrowed eyes, crossing his arms. "I'm here to submit him as a Battle Nexus contender."

She glances at him, and as he hides once more, she can't help but giggle into her hand.

"He can't even look me in the face, you think he can go against my champions? You must be losing your mind, Draxxy."

"I never said he was to immediately face your champions. He isn't ready. _Yet_ , that is. I am asking you to let him fight in your Battle Nexus. Leonardo has been under my care, but I'm afraid he has gotten too used to my tutelage, which is why he needs a change of pace. He is a fast learner, and I _know_ he is strong enough to survive whatever you throw at him." Leo peeks out, looking up at him with huge hopeful eyes.

"Oh, how you pull at my heartstring with your stories! How fantabulous! Alright then, I can take him off your fimbly fingers for a while, and we can see what he's made of!" She says before her face darkens, greedy animosity hidden behind a thinly veiled smug smile. " _For a price, that is_."

"It's always a price with you." He growls, clearly annoyed.

"Wouldn't have it any other way.~" She giggles, putting her hands behind her back, and steps away.

"He will make you money once he becomes a champion, and you can have him fight a few times a month. Is that not enough?"

"Hmmm. I'll consider it. I still have to see what type of fimbly fighter the precious snuggle buggy is after all! Let's prattle on some more, though, I'm assuming you have something up your sleeve to pull out for Big Mama like you always do?"

"I'd rather he not be here then if this conversation will extend longer than it has to," Draxum says, motioning to Leo.

"Of course. Guards?" The owl and fox yokai stationed near the entrance perk up. “Please escort this precious little marshmallow and put him in the waiting room, won't you?" They nod, turning to him and stepping forwards to take him off the alchemist's hands.

Draxum feels the other pull on his robe.

"Go with them, Leo."

"B-but.."

"Now!" He shouts, but the other only shakes his head, pulling closer. In such a close distance, Draxum could feel the other’s hands start to tremble.

Leo didn't know any of these yokai, he didn't want to be away from his dad. He didn't wanna be here! He didn't wanna be _left_ here! He feels his tears prickle in his eyes, but he knows he shouldn't show weakness in the room full of strangers. He's been taught better than that. Still, he clutches onto the robes, as though letting go would _kill him_.

Draxum sighs, taking him by his shoulders as he kneels to make them meet face to face.

"Da- S-sir... _Draxum_... I'm scared... I- I don't wanna go..." He whispers, using the other's actual name for the first time, as tears start falling down his cheeks, unable to keep it all in anymore, as he rubs at them.

"You _remember_ our deal. I will be back, I promise, but you must _stay_ here or else you will never get stronger. Which is why you must _train_. Become strong quickly, and you can return home. You have so much potential, and this place shall bring it out of you." He waits for Leo to nod, before he stands up once more, turning away. "Now go, I will be back to talk to you later, do not worry I won't leave without a proper goodbye."

Leo hesitantly lets go, glancing at Big Mama who flitters her fingers at him bye-bye, though Leo knows he's gonna have to see her again, as he nervously follows the other two yokai much bigger than him. In their defense, they're much gentler than they normally would be, seeing that Leo was just a child — maybe even slightly sympathetic, or perhaps just the knowledge that he couldn't escape two full-grown yokai — though to him it was already bruising how hard they pull at times.

More _weakness_. More reasons for him to be left here to fend for himself. His pride didn't matter right now, he wanted his _Dad._ He tries to turn back, to look behind him, but the owl yokai — who was twice as big and wide as him — blocks his view, doesn't care to move out of the way to let him see what was back there. He wants to see Dad but he _can't._

Dad thinks he's _weak_ , Dad's gonna leave, what will happen if he doesn't become strong..? Dad, Dad, Dad, _Dad_ —

"It's okay Leo, we're right here. Draxum told us to come with you." Muninn's voice pops out from behind him, though he can't see him. His thoughts slow down a bit, hearing a familiar voice. Well... maybe... as long as Muninn was there.

"Jeez, can't we just ditch this kid somewhere without him having to drag us along?" Huginn adds and Leo's mood immediately falls into a nearby dumpster can, gets grabbed by a garbage truck, and falls into the sewers.

"You've grown soft, Draxxy. You would've never comforted him, nor would you have your little... _pets_ follow him around to keep company after your little failed experiment." Big Mama offhandedly comments once the elevator doors close, taking the brooch into her hands and finally turning back to her yokai form in a flash of red, a large grin on her face. "And making him run off before I turned back as well. Why is that? Who is he to you, _really?_ "

"I will do all that is necessary for my plans to come into fruition." He corrects her swiftly before she could get any ideas. "And who he is is _Leonardo_. That is all you need to know."

"Still, my point still stands. Your time needn't be wasted by such flimsy false consolation to a _child_.”

"I need to make sure he will not run off while I am here, and so that he won't find a way to hitch a ride back home if he is afraid of your appearance. _Though I doubt that with his friend 'Junifer'._ " He mumbles the last part, crossing his arms.

"Rude! Don't you know not to speak ill of a lady's appearance? How contemptuous of you." She frowns, crossing his arms. "You're gonna have to really impress me with your offer for me to accept it now."

Draxum narrows his eyes, exhaling through his nose, tired of Big Mama's flair for dramatics.

"I have his battle progression, his techniques, and such recorded here if you wish to see it. His case will definitely interest you. And if it doesn't, you need not worry... I _definitely_ have an offer that will convince you."

* * *

Leo hears his dad's steps before he could see him.

One thing he was thankful for was that the waiting room had been empty, aside from him and the other two, making him less anxious. The room itself was his favorite color, relaxing to look at, a few benches stuck to the side, and a collection of newspapers, like at the dentist, and while he'd been busying himself talking to the goyles, the elephant in the room was still scratching at the back of his head. The main problem. The one he knows he has to inevitably confront...

"Leonardo." Draxum nods, greeting him as he stands.

"Da-..." Leo cuts himself off, slipping up as he puts a hand to his mouth, but quickly retracts it, putting both of them behind his back and puffs his chest out, puffing out his plastron, as his expression slipping into one of neutrality, mouth, and eyes narrowing, though he could see the fear in the shine in his eyes, betraying his stiff pose, as he nervously glances up at him. "Sir."

Draxum sees a glimpse of the soldier Leo could — who he _would_ — become, and there's a pit in his stomach that he can't explain, but he shrugs it off as nerves. It will be fine, he rationalized. This is what he wanted, was it not?

But in truth, he was also afraid, not that Leo would fail — _no_ , he has proved himself again and again _and again_ that he is strong, and he knows the boy is a born leader, a tactician, as he was always meant to be (as he was _made_ to be) and when he sets his mind on something, he will find a way to do it, no matter how impossible. No, that was not what made him frightened... it was that at the end of all of this, that once his training is finished, the boy would no longer be _himself_. No more jokes, pranks, smiles, giggles. No more scared whispers as the aftermath of a nightmare to rouse him from his sleep, asking to slip into the bed with him and cuddles up in the blankets next to him.

Just cold hard indifference, as he follows Draxum's commands with no hesitation. As he cuts his enemies' throats and commits _murder_ with his own two hands, and wipes off someone else's blood on his hands at the end of the day as though it is a common occurrence. As he is left in the Battle Nexus... and loses all innocence.

And it _terrifies_ him.

"It's alright, no one can see nor hear us here. Be at ease." He says, and Leo's shoulders visibly relax into a slump. Before he knows it he is tackled by the kid, pulling him roughly into a hug so hard that he is pulled forwards, all reservation he's tried to hold in, to not seem weak, to make Draxum _proud_ — all of it, gone. Now all he is is just a little kid who wants his dad. He's already in tears as his trembling form hung onto him like a lifeline, wracked in sobs.

"Dad, please don't go. Please. I- I'm sorry if I've been bad- o- or I've been naughty... I- I didn't mean it I swear- I- please... _don't go._ I won't do it again! I'll- I'll stop joking, I'll work extra hard- just please _don't leave me here. Please_." There is desperation in his voice, as he pleads and begs under labored breath, nuzzling his snout into the other's robe, staining the cloth with tears and snot.

"Leonardo, you must listen."

The other looks up back at him with wide eyes, and Draxum takes a moment to really take in his features; his soft scales, leathery in touch, the red marks on his face, crossing through his face, and the yellow stripes running along his arms, the most distinct part of his body.

He takes off his helmet, placing it to the ground beside them with a clank. Gently, he begins to wipe the other's tears, taking his cheeks into his hands.

"This has to happen, alright?" Leo shakes his head but the other shakes his head no, no _no_ he wouldn't believe it-

"It has to happen, but it's not because you did something wrong. You have to become stronger, to be a better fighter. To be a perfect _soldier_."

There it was, that word again, and it makes Leo look away, despite the hands on his cheeks. He uses his three-fingered green hands to pull at them, making them drop.

"Do you hate me that much..?"

There is confusion, only for a moment, as Draxum ponders the words, trying to digest them. And finally, understanding, as he realizes it, what has been bothering Leo all this time. His voice drops to a whisper and he pulls the other close, putting his chin on top of his shoulder.

"I could never hate you, my son. I would never put you here if I didn't think you could come home. I know you can do this. I love you." He whispers and it sounds so sincere that Leo can't help but freeze up.

And Leo's world stops. Those words. _Those words._

So long, he always wanted to know how it would feel. and it finally happens, and he feels _numb._

And there's another part of him, the dark thoughts, that doubts that he really meant it. That all of this was just so Leo would stop annoying him.

But he squashes it down. He wants- no, he needs to believe, or else he will go _insane_.

"I... I-" His voice feels hoarse, and the words are stuck in his throat. "Okay."

He doesn't let go of the hug, no... instead, he burrows further into it, doesn't want it to end. Wants the world to stop forever, where it's just him and his dad in this precious little moment they rarely share, and he's already tucked away into his head as an important memory.

And maybe... just maybe, it won't be the last.

* * *

First night alone... without Dad...

It's been a whole day, and he has never been this far away from Draxum before. Well, they slept in different rooms, but at least Leo knew where to go whenever he had a particularly nasty nightmare.

Draxum had been planning this for long then since this room looks _exactly like the one back at home._ But no, they could never replicate it. Not the red dashed lines near the door frame recording his height difference, nor the small dents he hides from his dad with drawings to avoid getting scolded. No... this was just a pretty plastic fake _replica_ , and he just _wanted to go back to his real room_ and _away from this nightmare._

Leo laid on the bed, not really trying to fall asleep — can't even if he wanted to. Unlike a certain other two who were snoring in their little dog bed tucked in the corner.

'I love you.' He said.

If he really loved him, he wouldn't have left him here...

Yet, despite it all, he can't bring himself to hate Draxum for it. Maybe, in the long run, it'll all be worth it. Maybe Leo will come home, and all of this will be a bad memory, or maybe even a joke: "A turtle walks into a Battle Nexus Arena with two swords and some cash. He says 'wait, this isn't the bar!!'"

Hah! He can't wait to tell Dad that!!

He gets up from the bed on instinct with a mischievous smile on his face and quickly goes to the door...

Only to find it locked.

Right...

It hasn't passed yet. And dad was back home. And he was _here_. Alone.

He quietly slips back in the bed, tired eyes staring at the moonlight visible from the view of his window, and slowly slips away into dreamland.

* * *

"I know that tomorrow's the big day and all, and you should be training, but why don't we play a round of Uno, Leo?" Muninn asks, displaying the pack of cards in his hands while Leo is putting a cold towel on his head and huffing a sigh of relief as his body slowly cools down, slurping on his cooled juice box like there's no tomorrow.

"Wait, _we_? Are you seriously letting him join our game? This was supposed to be a bro's night, Muninn!"

"Look at the poor kid, he hasn't played Uno before! Remember? Draxum practically locked him up in that room every night before he got soft on him. Do you know how _sad_ that is?"

"Wait wait wait, what is this u-mo game you guys are talking about?" He asks, before sucking on his juice again.

"Uno. I thought you knew about it already?”

“I thought that was just a victory cheer! It’s an actual game?”

“Well, we can teach you to play if you like." Muninn says once more, as Huginn gasps behind him.

"Muniiiiinn!" The other groans and Leo raises an eyebrow, looking around at the other yokai in the gym, training their muscles and sparring with each other.

"Sure, I've been looking for a distraction. Plus even if I wasn't, I'd still play if only just to piss off Huginn. So, what's it about?" Huginn glares at him, as Muninn gains a smile on his face.

At first, Huginn laughs at every mistake the boy does; like showing Muninn his cards, throwing down different colored cards every so often, and also incorrectly using the non-number cards.

Two games later, Leo finally gets the hang of it.

Five games later, Huginn is crying as Leo slams a plus-four and laughs evilly, sticking a finger into the other's wet cheek and grinning mischievously as he slams the green-4-card and slaps the other's cards away.

Ten games later, Leo officially places a cone hat on Huginn's head that says "DUNCE".

Another game and everyone else has gone back, and before they knew it, all three of them were being ushered back to their room. As they walk back _—_ or rather _fly_ in the goyles' case —, Leo doesn't notice the yellow reverse stuck in the space in between his shoulder and his plastron.

* * *

**"And introducing our** **_newest_ ** **and youngest fighter yet. Neon Leon!"**

The announcer enthusiastically shouted as Leo nervously stepped out of the shadows and into the lights.

"Wooo! Go Leo!!" He turns to the crowd where the two goyles were cheering with food and drinks, yet everyone around them didn't have quite the same reaction.

The crowd mumbles and whispers to themselves.

"A child?"

"What's a _kid_ doing in the Battle Nexus?"

"Wasn't there an age limit?"

"He looks the same age as my daughter!"

Leo nervously glances around, seeing the disapproving glares of everyone around the stadium, some full of pity, and some full of malicious glee, some full of disappointment that the match was gonna be over _this_ quickly.

"This kid's gonna be dog food." A disembodied voice chuckled, as the music started up again.

**"And his opponent today: the uprising newbie, the 'BONE CRUSHER'!!!!"**

The wolf-jaguar yokai stepped out of the other side of the arena, grinning. His dark grey fur contrasting his orange, black and white spots greatly, dotting all around his body right down to his hind legs, making him look like a piñata if Leo was being honest. His armor only covered half his body, and a belt around his waist, slotted into them two machetes.

"Really!? A _kid_. Big Mama must be feeling generous today, free win for me, aye!!" He says loudly as the crowd cheers him on, making Leo even more nervous than before.

"Bets on the wolfie over there!"

"Me too!"

"Haha! This is real easy money!!" The wolf yells out, pulling out his machetes, and the moment the announcer tells them to begin, he races towards the other.

Leo's breath hitched as he took out his swords.

_Focus._

He could hear Draxum's voice say.

_You must focus on your enemy. Use everything around you as an advantage!_

_Your swords are not your only weapons._

He takes a deep breath, and his eyes lock onto the other's arms, about to swing down before he rolls out of the way.

"Hey, little doggy!" Leo shouts and for the first time, his confidence comes back to him in spades.

"You look a little _ruff_ today. Is it _paw_ -sible you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" He grins, and the other snaps, growling at him and swiping once more, which he easily dodges.

"Honestly this is too easy!" He exclaims, the fake smile he has on easily slipping into a confident one, front flipping to land behind him and kicking him in the side, as the crowd starts roaring up again in laughter, only this time they're on _Leo's side._

"You're the most annoying piece of _—_ "

"Oh _fur_ -give me for making such aw- _fur_ puns, sir! Honestly, sorry for _hounding_ you with them!" He says in a mock-British accent, making the crowd laugh, and making the yokai even more irritated.

"I'm going to destroy you!"

"Hard pass! Or maybe hard _paws..._ " He ponders, stuffing his head into his shell to dodge the machete swinging for his neck, but he makes a _miscalculation_ and the other one grazes his arm, drawing blood. He hisses, stumbling backward, squinting at his injury, but recovers quick, grinning almost predatory-like to mock the other, as he grits his teeth through the pain. "You know, it's really hard to think of a good pun while I'm being slashed at by a maniac, you really need to calm down, ya bloodhound!"

"Die!!"

"No, you." He wrestles the card out of his plastron, pulling out a yellow uno reverse card from seemingly out of nowhere, and flicks it at his face, distracting him long enough to slide in between his legs and appear behind his back, slashing at his knees, pressing his back to the ground, raising his swords up, and brings them down onto his shoulders.

The wolf screams, before he slumps forwards, passed out.

And the crowd goes into an _uproar_.

* * *

Leo has his first real conversation with Big Mama while he's being cleaned up and bandaged by a fish nurse yokai.

Suffice to say, he does _not_ like her. He felt chills every time she'd enter the room, feeling danger prickle all around him as she speaks, and steps closer.

"Leo, was it? Oh, what a _wonderful show_ you've given Big Mama today! Truly a match for the ages!!"

He looks away, as the nurse finishes the last of the bandages and is ushered away.

He regrets having let Huginn and Muninn fly off to get snacks.

Now, he was _alone_ with Big Mama.

"What do you want?" He asks and there is suspicion in his voice, as he nervously holds in a shuddering breath, and clasps his hands together to stop himself from trembling. He puts on a feisty facade, but underneath he is _scared._

"Oh, it's nothing. I only wanted to greet my little fantabulous new fighter!"

"I am _not_ yours."

Her expression sours a little, but she easily slips on her cheerful mask once more.

"Not yet, that is. You see, Big Mama sees the way you fight, and I am absolutely enthralled by it, and so is the crowd! Now, I have a little proposition for you..."

* * *

Leo stares at the wall beside his bed emptily, thinking of Big Mama's deal still, as his mouth grows into a thin line.

No matter how many times he rolls or tries to sleep it off, avoiding putting weight on his injured arm, he finally gives up, and crawls down to the floor, next to the window, and opening what he thinks is a pack of Uno cards.

Might as well work his brain.

The moment he opens it he is severely confused at the strange symbols next to the numbers, and there are strange drawings in the middle. Wh- _what were these?_

A bang makes him violently flinch, freaking out as he throws the cards at the wall, running back to the bed, practically leaping onto it, and even hiding into his shell, as he hears the start of the rain, right outside the window.

A thunderstorm.

He hides, terrified, until he falls asleep, hugging himself tightly in his shell.

* * *

"Uh, so... why did you call us here again, Leo?"

Huginn and Muninn watch the kid pace around the room, a hand on his beak as he seemed to be deep in thought, looking slightly disgruntled.

"Were you two gonna tell me there were more card games than Uno, or was I supposed to just find that out myself?"

The two goyles stared straight at him, then burst out laughing, leaving the kid even more confused.

* * *

Leo would never admit it, but he has nightmares.

Well, it was actually common knowledge, but Leo didn't like talking about them, no matter how much he was pestered.

Draxum stocked it up to PTSD from the incident that he could barely remember.

But ever since he's been left here alone. Even when things got better. Even when he was rising ranks, he still silently begs for Draxum to come back.

That maybe... maybe if he does well enough, he'll return.

The doors will open and he'll be there and Leo can _hug his dad again._

But...

There is no one.

The nightmares of him seeing his dad abandoning him, leaving him here, never to return.

Nightmares that he gets too cocky one day, and gets killed while his back is turned.

Nightmares that Huginn and Muninn will disappear.

_Nightmares that Draxum will one day think of him obsolete, and he'll be left to die, alone. He never loved him, he was never his son, he was just another failed experiment like the others._

The others...

He also had nightmares about them.

The ones before the Battle Nexus, that have become rare nowadays.

He sees them disappear, as he's stuck under the rock. He can't move, only cry out for help, for _their_ help, but they never do. No, they can’t move, because they’re _dead_. Or gone. Or both. Or another where Lou Jitsu brutally murders them, crushes them all under his stupid giant boot.

The memory wasn’t clear, and the nightmares weren’t either.

But on the other hand... he'd always wondered...

What life would be like, if the three other turtles didn't die?

Maybe they would've trained like him. With Draxum.

And he'd have... brothers?

The concept just seemed so _foreign_ to him.

Would they like his jokes? Would he prank them? Would... they love him? Would he love them?

Would Draxum have placed them all here as well?

Then maybe he wouldn't be so alone.

Then maybe...

Maybe he would be happy, without having to put on a fake smile, without forcing a joke out his lips anytime he was nervous.

But that was just childish fantasy. And he was growing up.

* * *

"Exe- _cow-_ tor, eh? Wow, that name is... original. Did you take inspiration from 'Egg-secutioner' by any chance, because that guy was _egg-_ celent!" Leo, 11-years-old, says with a mocking laugh before turning his attention to hid sword, casually cleaning his teeth using the reflection in a self-conceited sort of way, not even paying attention to the minotaur yokai who was getting increasingly irritated as he stomps his hind legs on the ground, huffing out as he picks up his giant ax.

"No use talkin' to a dead man." The yokai huffed, gritting his teeth and charging at the turtle who easily dodges, smirking as he puts his swords back into their scabbards.

"Have you ever considered _therapy_?"

The minotaur roars again, but this time Leo makes a show of spitting his hands and rubbing them together, pulling out a red handkerchief.

The crowd bursts into laughter as he keeps purposefully dodging the other last-minute, while waving the red flag around, imitating a bullfighter. This only proved to make the other angrier and angrier.

"Hey, Big Mac! Whaddya' call a cow with no _legs_?"

"Are you _seriously_ cracking jokes in the middle of _battle_!?"

"C'mon, can't a guy have any fun around here?" He smirks, raising an eyebrow, but never losing his smug expression, easily backflipping the way out of the swinging ax, and using the small chance of vulnerability to use the ax as leverage to jump and get close enough to the crowds, as he lands onto his arms, and spins to land on his legs, reveling in the applause as he perches on the ledge. Turning to the catgirl drinking a soda staring at him with wide eyes, he winks at her.

"Let me borrow this for a sec, kay'?" He says, snatching it before she could protest and yeets it at the other. "Boooo! Exe-cow-ter, more like Exe-LOSER!!" He ridicules, grinning from ear to ear as the crowd copies him just as he expected them to, throwing their food and wrappers and anything else they could grab at him.

This wasn't a match.

Just a game.

All to a troublesome sword-wielding 11-year old delinquent.

"Hey, hey, beefy, Wanna see a magic trick?" He asks, pulling out a stack of cards.

"Why does this kid have so many toys!?" He asks angrily, stomping the ground.

"Rude! These are fine weapons! Only one of the most important pieces of history ever! Don't disgrace the face, bro." He says, ripping them open and playing around with them, transferring them from one hand to the other.

"Die!!" He roars, swiping at the turtle only for him to jump on his ax, squatting down and squeezing the sides of the deck, all of them rushing forwards and hitting the other in the face, making him close his eyes on instinct, before Leo makes a show of kissing his fist-balled right hand. "Here comes the punchline, bud!" His grin becomes wider, as he delivers a sickening right uppercut, and jump kicks the poor guy to the ground, knocking his breath away.

" _Again_ , what do you call a cow with _no legs_?"

The minotaur watches as the _child — only a_ **_child_ ** _— unsheathes his swords, a red glint in his eyes, as he raises his blades, and the minotaur_ **_screams_** _as the crowd goes_ **_wild_**.

* * *

"Oh, turtley-boo!~”

 _'Oh great, here we go again.'_ Leo internally sighs as the familiar clacking of Big Mama's heels steps right after him. He could just ditch her, a voice in his head says. That is if he wanted to be faced off against the huge ass _Kraken_. He stops for her to catch up, as she flashes him a pretty grin.

"Big Mama saw the _wonderful_ show you've put on again today, everyone really loves seeing the **'Jester'** in action, you always give them a fantabulous thrill with your jokes and funny one-liners as you best your enemies!"

Leo had raised an eyebrow at the name change Big Mama employed. The Jester. Probably to sell more tickets? He doesn't really understand how these things work, all he knows is Big Mama was a greedy beehive, and that she probably had _something_ to try and manipulate him again this time if she was talking to him. She looked pretty upset last time he turned down his offer.

"Yeah, well the jokes weren't _for_ them." He mumbles, glancing at the eye camera passing by, fluttering above their heads as he crosses his arms.

"For them or not, they are _loving_ it, and I really do wish to know if you've changed your mind about working for me instead of that boring old Draxxy?" She asks, and there's a twinge of anger that he quickly squashes down, letting it coil and swirl in his stomach instead, kept tightly sealed inside to be sprung upon like snake an unsuspecting victim for another day.

"I don't _work_ for him." He scowls.

"Yes yes, you work _with_ him, I know, he told me all about it. You warriors and your silly little pride over such an insignificant word!" She giggles, but Leo only rolls his eyes and sighs.

"If that was all this is about, then my answer hasn't changed. I'm going to my room." He says plainly, starting to walk away once more. She follows after him still and Leo internally groans. Why can't she just _leave_ him alone?

"I do still find it odd that in the year you've been here, your kill count remains at the very flimsy bottom of zero, but since you've always K.O.'d your adversaries, you've been rising ranks in the most scrumptious of ways!" She giggles, clasping her hands together and putting them to her cheek. "Perhaps Draxxy might actually win this little bet of ours!"

"... bet, what bet?" He asks, and Big Mama grins.

"Oh? He didn't tell you? I thought your bonds were as strong as iron but perhaps I was wrong!"

" _What_ was the bet?" He asks, gritting his teeth and facing her.

She grins, eyes piercing red, turning back into her yokai form.

"If you can become a Battle Nexus champion in the next 2 years, you can go home with no fuzz nor how, not even a speck of resistance from me no matter how much sales you're raking in! _But_ ..." All her eyes narrow, her smile somehow growing bigger. "Any longer than that, and you belong to _me_. _Splendiferous_ gamble is it not? Draxum must trust you very well for that, he's not really known to take such risks."

And for all of Big Mama's manipulation and slowly sowing seeds of doubt, she doesn't expect the other to _start laughing._

Perhaps he must be losing his mind?

"Wait wait wait, _seriously_? _I_ didn't know he had so little faith in me!" He chuckles, slapping his forehead and shaking his head, turning to walk away, leaving a surprised looking Big Mama wide-eyed and jaw dropped.

"Tell him that I'll be Battle Nexus Champion in a _year._ "

* * *

Okay, Leo admits, he fucked up.

He shouldn’t have provoked Big Mama, shouldn’t have gambled against her stupid terms and conditions that she liked to change every second, shouldn’t have painted a target on his shell for the metaphorical knife headed towards his back.

Now, he had a year’s less of time, and at least, like, 50 more matches left before he can even try to issue an official challenge against a champion, and he feels so _stupid_.

Maybe that’s why Draxum really left him here.

His stupid mouth, always running off and messing things up.

Stupid talkative Leo, ruining everything again.

Falling into this depressive train of thought, he’s distanced himself from two of the only living beings in this stupid place who bothers talking to him, and the days have only become a monotonous daily routine of sleep, eat, train, fight, train, eat, sleep, and then once again repeat the next day.

“Good work, champ!” Muninn bristles beside him, trying to start up a conversation, only to fail, when the other doesn’t bother reciprocating his excitement.

Leo knows the higher the rank, the more popularity he gets.

The more popular he got, the bigger chance he had at getting the daily vote for which contender could fight against a Battle Nexus Champion. It was rare, after all, for someone to reach that far. It was all up to the crowd.

All of them, just nameless masks, laughing and laughing and laughing.

And he was the Jester, after all.

He makes jokes, physically comedy, interacts with them as often as he could, and the moment he leaves the crowd’s view, the moment he steps into the shadows and away from the cameras and the eyes, he becomes… nobody.

In truth, Leo just wants to relax, talk to the goyles, have fun with them again, play Uno and games, and sneak around, and even if they were punished for breaking the rules, at least Leo wasn’t gonna do it alone.

_Honestly, Leo just wants everything to go back to the way they were._

...

If you asked Huginn, it was getting kind of annoying, being ignored like that. The kid was _really_ getting on his nerves. I mean, yeah, fine, the kid’s life was in danger, bleh blah, blugh, when was it not?

He was _already_ in danger before the whole Big Mama talk, and he was acting fine before then. Honestly…

He flies back with the juice and snacks for him, and the other grabs them with a small thanks, not bothering to ask if it was his or not. The goyle passes him a skeptical grimace, and turns away, not bothering to make small talk. He knew it wouldn’t go anywhere, not with Mr. Killjoy next to him deflecting any attempts to interact with them.

_Seriously, Huginn deserves more respect around here, especially from the blue brat._

...

Munnin was concerned.

Just like back then, and like right now. He always was.

Admittedly, he might be taking the joke name Huginn gave him ‘momma bear’ way too seriously, but he couldn’t help it! If you watched the kid grow up from being as tiny as you to being like thrice as big as you, you’d feel the same way too!

Still, any time he tries to strike up a conversation, ask what’s wrong, etc etc, the other would just run away!

Even now, as he flies back and sits next to the other two who silently focused on their different tasks. He could feel the thick atmosphere, and the suffocating air of silence that threatened to swallow them all. Despite this, though, he sits beside the two friends he’s ever known and eats his lunch.

_Truthfully, Muninn wished Leo would open up to him more._

* * *

Muninn was supposed to just be out for snacks where _was_ he?

Huginn nervously kept checking the entrance by the window they used to sneak snacks in, and it was Muninn's turn to buy some. The kid had fallen asleep around a few minutes ago, too tired and sore from his latest match, and while Huginn didn't care enough to wake him, Muninn definitely would, so he had just let the other get his beauty sleep.

But then he started twitching, sweating, writhing in his bed. Fighting some invisible enemy that wasn't there.

"Dad no... no please... please don't go-..." He mumbles, thrashing in the bed.

Crying out for _someone that wasn't there_.

Huginn hesitates, turning to the window hoping Muninn would arrive any time now like the mama bear he was to comfort the kid, but lo and behold: Nothing! But time was still going, and the kid was gonna hurt himself if he kept going like that, so in a split-second decision, the goyle quickly flew over.

"Oh, you are gonna owe me, big time kid!" He says and desperately tries to avoid the flailing hands as he tries. "Hey, hey kid! Kid, wake up!!" He keeps shaking his shoulder, slapping his face, pulling at him just so he can _wake up—_

The boy grabs him by the throat and he comically gets choked out as he desperately pats at the other's fingers to let him go. This was it, he was gonna die here because of this _stupid kid_ and Muninn will never know cuz' Leo will probably bury him or throw his body in the sea or something! In a last-ditch effort, he yells out in a choked whisper: "- _Leo_!"

He wakes up and greedily sucks in as much air as though he's just survived almost drowning, lurching over forwards, out of breath.

Leo, still teary eyes stare in front of him, eyes still wet as he let out a choked sob.

"I- it was just a dream." He tells himself.

"A- a little... help..." Leo turns to the other, flinching at the goyle in his hand as he lets go in surprise.

"Jeez! If you wanted me to leave you to your stupid nightmare, you could've just told me!" He coughs out, falling on his butt on the pillow, rubbing his poor neck.

"No one told you to wake me up!" Leo responds bitterly.

"Fine, if you're an ungrateful butt wants to sulk I'll just go watch the nightly matches!" He says and was about to fly off when the other suddenly speaks up once more.

"Wait." Huginn stops because he's never... never heard the other so _sad_ — so vulnerable — before. "Don't... I don't wanna be _alone_."

The room is silent, except for the heavy breathing.

"Okay, okay, I'll go get Muninn, I'm sure he's here somewh—" Huginn stops in place when he feels the gentle grab of his leg by the other.

"No... please... don't leave, Huginn."

Huginn's beak thins, as he turns to the other.

"... fine." He says as he is slowly pulled into a hug, stuck next to the other's plastron like a stuffed toy.

He was about to complain when he felt the shudder and slow trembling of the other beside his chest, and the words left only as hushed whispers of assurance, though Huginn can't say they were true.

...

When Muninn comes back with the snacks, he sees the two all cuddled up in the bed, Leo hanging onto the other tightly, as the other eventually fell asleep as well, possibly because of suffocation, but Future Huginn refuses to even speak of this event.

"What!? No one invited me to cuddle night!?" He gasps scandalously, shooting in between the two like a bullet, causing a lot of shouting and angry yells.

Huginn is shouting, and Muninn is pulling at his wing, and Leo, and simply laughs in between the other two’s stupid argument, feeling lighter than he has in _months_.

* * *

“If you’re not gonna talk to me, at least talk to Muninn.”

Leo wasn’t expecting that.

He expected the other to give talking to him a try too, just like Muninn kept trying to do to no avail. Although things have gotten semi-normal, with him hanging out with them again, there was still an undeniable emotional wall the other has formed between them.

“What do you mean..?”

“Don’t play dumb, Leo, we all know you’ve been avoiding the ‘talk’ with him. He’s just concerned.”

“Augh… not this again.”  
  
“What again?”

“I get it, you both are concerned, but there’s nothing to be concerned about! I don’t get why you’re being so pushy about it!” Leo snaps angrily, gritting his teeth, balling his hands into fists.

…

“It’s just- I’m scared and angry, and- and you guys always pester me to talk about feelings is so- its so irritating!!! I already have enough stress, as is, to reach Big Mama’s deadline or else I’m gonna be stuck here forever!” He throws his hands up, storming around in circles.

…

“ _And- and..._ Oh wow, that felt great to let out, I see tour point now. Where is Muninn?” 

Huginn rolls his eyes and directs him to the nearest goyle therapist in the block.

When Muninn and Leo come back, there’s a lighter and happier breeze surrounding them, and although Huginn wouldn’t admit it, he was glad that it was over too.

...

"Thanks, Huginn." Leo says quietly, handing him a cold orange can, sweating and emitting magic sparkles and gas.

"I never thought you'd finally say it, brat. Actually, I don’t think I heard you wuite well the first time! Mind repeating it?”

"Shut up, I regret this already."

The kid says, but there is no real heat behind it, and Huginn smiles as he takes the drink, and chugs it down.

* * *

"So, you're finally going against one of my champions, yes?"

Leo keeps his mouth shut, tightly closed, locked, and throws the key into the ocean. _Don't be provoked_ , he reminds himself, _she'll use that to her advantage_. Just like with his shortened time limit on becoming Champion. He had to train and fight _double time_ to make up for a _year's_ worth of battles.

"I know you're excited! Unfortunately, the terms and conditions have been... altered at the last minute. The only way you'll be leaving here, is by _killing_ my Kraken, turtley-boo. I know you're probably feeling generous with your handful kill counts, none of them even by you directly! Blood loss, shock, etcetera etcetera! I wonder how you'll be able to pull this off now, with your... brutal yet more than merciful way of handling things." She says sweetly, with mocking undertones.

Leo's breath hitches, his pride swelling, and he finally responds.

"Is that all? Seriously, I could beat it with—" He cuts himself off before he could say something he would severely regret. Probably something stupid like, '- _with a blindfold on'_ or '- _with both arms tied behind my back'_ , solidifying his already looming chance of defeat.

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you."

"... nothing." He absconds, and Big Mama bares her teeth in a wide grin, a smug expression on her face, as she places her hands behind her back, as though everything was falling into place in her spindly little webby trap.

* * *

**"We all know him, we all** **_LOVE_ ** **Him!! Here comes the 'Jester'!!"**

Leonardo, age 12, starts walking out in a stride, a shit-eating smirk on his face as finger guns the audience, they cheer wildly at his entrance, as he hangs the sword on his shoulders, yawning and stretching as a show of his ego.

Despite his obvious flagrance, there was a good reason, with almost 100 wins on his belt, over the past two years, and had finally gained enough popularity that he'd been finally able to face off with a champion for their spot.

**"And his opponent today needs no introduction, Big Mama's personal favorite — the 'Kraken'!!"**

"Hey there big guy, sorry we had to meet like this." Leo grins, narrowing his eyes, and pointing his sword, so long ago having been stained with blood, and now once more being prepared to strike again. His hands shake, betraying the smug expression hammered into his face, his eyes looking almost pitying, and simultaneously terrified as he motions to the crowd, like any good fighter does — get them on _your_ side, _always_. "Who else wants to see this big lug go down eh?"

Though, unlike everyone in the crowd, cheering and riding on his confident facade, betting and sharing votes to each other, Huginn and Muninn look down from the stands at the kid who didn't have a choice.

A kid who _has_ to risk his life, or else he will never go home.

There is a countdown, as all customary 'Battle Nexus fights for the Champion title' showdowns.

**Three.**

Leo felt his weight shift onto his prosthetic more, fingers thrumming against the hilts of his blades, almost impatiently as he gulps, staring at the ten yokai trying desperately to keep the other still before the countdown is finished.

**Two.**

He wants to call quits, but he knows he can't. He glances at Big Mama looking at him with a smirk, as if telling him he _can't_ win. Not against such a wrangler like this one.

**One.**

Its tentacles bulge against the chains, as it threatens to snap at any moment, and his breath hitches.

**Go!**

He is barely able to dodge the long appendages flailing around, having been cut loose from its restraints as the Kraken screeches. Come on, Leo. You know your way around this. Just like fighting Draxum. Draxum's tentacles. _Dodge_ them.

He can _do this._

There are no jokes, he doesn't have the _time_ to crack one, as he dodges another hit.

The crowd cheers on every hit, every slam, and now that Leo is on the other end of the stick, just like his first match which seems so long ago, when it felt like everyone was _against him, their eyes staring at him, laughing as he keeps getting thrown into the wall, up the air, again and again, and again and he hears the mocking remarks, all of them, and he can't think straight, and it's happening again, everything is going too fast wh—_

A tentacle knocks him to the ground, slamming him against the dirt, all breath knocked out of him.

A situation has never felt so _hopeless_ before.

_Focus._

He's _trying,_ trying so _hard._

_I'll be back... I promise._

He's gone, he won't be back, he can't _do_ this.

 _The perfect_ **_soldier_** _._

No Draxum was _wrong,_ he's not- he couldn't be- not when he's lying so uselessly on the ground like this.

It hurt, everything _hurt_.

He's just a _kid,_ he never _wanted_ this, he just wanted Dad to be _proud_.

He was a _failure_.

_My son._

_I know you can do this._

**_I love you._ **

Leo sees Draxum's figure walking away, out the door, out into the void _and he will never see him again._ He'll never be able to reach him, he can't bring himself to _stand. He'll never hear those words again, he'll never see him again._

_And he's gone. Gone gone gone. All because Draxum was wrong, he couldn't do it, he was too weak._

_..._

_No._

_No no no no — **NO!!!**_

He clenches his fists around his swords, and lets out a gut-wrenching scream, as he runs _forwards._ Up, racing the appendage and stabbing at its eyes. It roars in protest as he keeps stabbing them in a brutal fashion, as it screams out in agony. Backflipping back to the ground, he grits his teeth, squinting in focus, through his blood-stained face, some of it getting into his eyes a little, as he runs to its blind spot while it's distracted, and climbs on towards its back, using his metal leg to stab into its slimy skin to climb. Left, right, left, right, until he reaches the top.

He barely hears the roaring of the crowd, the screeching of the beast, as his own ears ring, his heart beating _hard_ against his chest, as he takes a deep breath.

There is silence in his head. Only him and his enemy, nothing more.

Then _stabs._

 _It's like he blanks out, his body moving on muscle memory, as he stabs and stabs and_ **_stabs._ **And he feels the monster finally stumble forward, as he slips and falls into a pool of its blood.

He... he did it.

Draxum... was right.

He's always right. How... how could Leo forget?

He looks over to Big Mama, drenched in her champion's blood. He _killed_ it, he _won._

She stares back in anger, ripping the contract sheet she had prepared in her hands in frustration and he can't help the weak laugh of satisfaction seeing her stomp off somewhere he can't see.

He's done it...

A part of him regrets it, truly, _truly_ hates himself for killing an innocent creature that unknowingly did nothing wrong. He's become a murderer. He sees it in the way Huginn and Muninn look at him in horror... like they don't recognize him. Like they're looking at a _monster_.

He knows he's _crossed a line_ that he should _never have crossed,_ but he couldn't care less.

2 years, 10 months, and 30 days (and 58 minutes and 3... 4... 5... seconds) in the Battle Nexus.

And finally... _finally_...

He gets to go _home_.

* * *

There was the big day, done, and finished. Leo feels eternal _relief_ in seeing his face onto the huge screen, the Battle Nexus Champion title _finally his, and Leo could feel his heart thrumming and hands shaking because he didn't actually know if he could defeat that huge thing._

But it was over.

And now it was the day _after_ the big day. The day he'd fantasized since he came here. The day he gets to see _Dad_ again.

Anxiously, Leo waited for his dad to return, and without anything to do, he gets to _think_.

Two months — no, the month was almost up, only _one_ _month —_ and he would've been stuck here, _forever_. He remembers that day when Big Mama tried making him distrust Draxum by telling him about the bet, and he knows _how stupid_ he was being now.

Really? Cutting down a year just to see Big Mama's reaction _what_ was he thinking!?

And then there was the fact that wow he never actually made a friend here.

Well, he wasn't supposed to be making friends, plus there were like, no other kids here, but still, he felt kinda weird that he's spent all this time around those other yokai contenders and never had a proper conversation with them aside from the occasional threat when he accidentally bumps into them while talking to the goyles.

Then again, maybe that was for the best. He wasn't blind, he noticed when someone disappeared from their little training room, their spot precariously missing from a workbench, or replaced by another yokai. And who knew who you were gonna be faced with the next day? Only Big Mama decided these things, and _no one_ here would hesitate to kill to get their rank up, not even a 'friend'. If he did have a friend, like example a friendly neighborhood rabbit same age as him — maybe a year older who was also coincidentally a master swordsman —, Leo would still be forced to fight him, well, it would've just left a sour taste in the turtle's mouth.

"Hey, earth to Leo! You good, kid?" Muninn asks, as he gently pats the other's head. Both goyles were perched on top of his shoulders, also awaiting to be picked up by Draxum.

"Huh? Oh- yeah, I'm good." He lies easily, something he's practically mastered, as not to worry the mother hen of the trio.

_He's used it tons of times, on days when the fight was particularly nasty and not even his jokes could cheer him up, as he puts on a fake smile, and his leg ached, while his mechanical one felt heavy, overheating slightly._

And Muninn was almost convinced.

"He's lying." A tired sounding Huginn adds beside them, his eyes closed and body stuff that you might've thought he was an _actual_ statue.

"Shut it, bird brain."

"Frog face."

"Short wings."

"You don't even HAVE wings!"

Leo huffs, choosing to stare at the ground instead. The atmosphere becomes silent and tense.

"Just so you know... we don't blame you... for uh, y'know..."

"I killed it, Muninn. It didn't even know what it was doing. It was... _innocent._ " Leo says, scrunching up, as he tells the other how he feels, covering his face to hide his tears. "You two don't understand, it was like — I didn't even feel like myself — it was all instinct and- and when I- I killed it, it just felt _natural._ I- It felt right at that time and I _hate myself for it—_ "

"We accidentally left the two goyles who were supposed to get our spot in the devil's backbone and we lied about it to Draxum." Muninn blurts out, and Huginn sputters.

"The devil's backbone!? But I thought anyone who passed through that place never made it out alive!" Leo had wide eyes and Muninn nods. 

“But… that’s different, you didn’t… you didn’t know…”

"And yet we could’ve stopped and went back for them, or at least told Draxum the truth." The goyle says, and Huginn finally speaks up.

"Muninn!"

"What!?" Muninn asks, spooked a little.

"What if he tattles on Draxum!?"

"He won't! You won't right, Leo?"

"I..."

Huginn turns to Leo with the most perturbed look on his face, who only looks away, red.

"He totally is, we're _screwed_!"

"I won't! I won't!" Leo laughs a little, quickly wiping away the tears that have started to form.

"So do you feel guilty about it?" Muninn adds, and Huginn quiets down, not knowing what to say. Muninn always was the more empathetic one.

"Huh?" The turtle asks, confused.

"Ya know... About killing the Kraken guy."

"Yeah..."

"Then there's nothing to worry about, is there?"

"But... I don't regret it." Leo says, looking defeated. "If I had to do it again I would. If it meant that I can go home like right now."

"It's okay... you didn't have a choice."

There is silence once more before Leo finally speaks up.

"I guess it's just... I'm sorry you had to see that... please... please don't tell Dad about it." He says, voice a little sore.

"You kidding? You've known us your whole life — literally! Do we look like tattletales to you?" Muninn exclaims in faux offense, making Leo smile a little.

"Well, Huginn definitely does."

"Hey!"

Leo laughs along with them, the tension in his shoulder dropping a little, as he lets himself relax, listening to the chatty discussion between the two.

...

_Leo hears his dad's steps before he could see him._

"Leonardo." Draxum greets him as he stands, wide-eyed and breathless, as he blinks, staring.

Maybe this was another dream, those were worse than nightmares, spouting promises of a sweet future that might not even happen.

He pinches his cheeks and slaps himself, but he _doesn't wake up._

"You—" Draxum starts, pinching his nose, but practically gets knocked onto the ground as the kid jumps him, pulling him into an embrace as they fall to the ground with a thump.

But the hug felt real though, as Draxum's hold grew a little tighter around his shoulders, an embrace he never thought he'd feel again.

It was real enough for him.

* * *

"Wow I- I'm really back home...." He mumbles, staring at the entrance.

"Yes, I believe you've earned some rest after such grievous training," Draxum explains, hand on the other's shoulder, and Leo relaxes into the gesture. "Welcome back."

Leo's almost the same height as Draxum at this point, reaching his shoulders, and it makes the yokai's pose slightly awkward. Still, as much as Leo longed to be near Draxum again, the latter also had been too, anxiously worrying, and watching his matches with wide eyes, checking in with Big Mama if he had been properly treated, though he wouldn't admit it to the kid — Leo could easily get a big head and hold it over the other.

And so he enjoys the quiet moment, no matter how short it was.

"I... I missed you, dad." Leo finally says under his breath. And he _swears_ he can hear the faintest whispers of... "Me too...".

* * *

Draxum had panicked when he got the notification that his lab had been breached.

He had run as quickly as he could to contain them, only to find a certain turtle mutant in the middle of the creature pile.

He had tried pulling him out in a panic, only to realize the other was _laughing._

"Wait wait I- stop that tickles! I missed you too! I missed all of you!!"

Draxum lets out the most tired sigh he could muster, but lets out a smile at the hijinx, as he turns to leave. Though in an odd way, he missed the chaos that often accompanied the kid, most of it his fault.

"Dad dad- daddy! C'mere!!"

Before he knew it, he felt an arm pull at his feet, and he was being dragged into the middle of the terrifying mutant pile, and his screams were lost to the world.

* * *

"Woah, you're... you're really letting me out on my own? By myself?? Overprotective Parent Draxum letting moì, his son, explore the Hidden City unattended!?" Leo gasps flamboyantly, putting a hand to his chest, and closes his eyes. "Is the world ending..? Am I _dead?_ "

Draxum still hasn't called him his son, but the turtle hasn't heard him deny the claim at all since he came back — which is _way_ better treatment than before. The goat yokai rolls his eyes, grabbing something from his pocket.

"Not alone. I have given you free rein on wherever you wish to go in the Hidden City, so long as either Huginn or Muninn, or both accompany you. Here is a cell phone to contact me with."

"Eh, same thing those guys are like... clothes. Mostly useless, and just accessories, but you want to leave them in the first place, you get all sentimental." Leo smiles a little, easily passing it off as Draxum' domineering personality taking form. Still, Leo can't say he doesn't appreciate the sentiments, as he takes the tiny gadget and turned it around, confused. "What... am I supposed to do with this..?" He asks, confused.

"It is a touch screen phone, mainly used for calling and messaging. Turn it on with the top button."

Leo does, and gasps when it turns on.

"Have the goyles teach you how to use it. Here's some money as well, spend it wisely." Draxum snaps his fingers, and Huginn and Muninn come flying in, clutching at a blue rectangle looking wallet with their claws. "Allowance..." Leo gasps as if obtaining a legendary item as he snatches it from the goyles in one fast swipe. So _this_ was money. He's only ever seen Draxum use it when passing it off to others in exchange for goods. He stares at it, admiring the shiny accessories decorating it, a small green plastic turtle hanging from it.

"I decided since you'll be exploring, you'll need it to buy items that you want- or if you get hungry you can buy snacks. _Please_ don't waste it." He says, and if Leo had only met Draxum today, he would say the goatman looked grumpy, as he huffs and turns away.

But the turtle wasn't born yesterday, and as someone who's spent his whole life alongside said yokai easily saw through his tsundere facade and sees that the other had been _nervous —_ he bets five candies (a trade he's familiarized with the two goyles) that he was looking away to hide the blush forming at his face — definitely if Leo would like the gift or not. He had been separated from the other for two years after all, who knew what else changed?

The 12-year-old only grins, running forwards to embrace the other.

"I love it, dad, thanks! I'm gonna go now!!" He says cheerfully, before walking away with Huginn and Muninn having to go faster to catch up.

"Come back before 10!"

* * *

"How do you... play this thing?"

Leo stood in front of an arcade machine, practically dwarfing him with its size, as Leo grip the coins in his hands like the prized possessions they were, finally being able to afford them, quickly glancing around to see if anyone was rearing up to steal his stuff, but no one seemed interested in robbing him of his precious coins.

The place seemed just as old and worn as it had last time Leo was here, with only the game titles changing, though Hubert was noticeably missing, sadly — Leo was still determined to secretly keep trying to find him, though, now that he could actively look for him. He had tried making a... 'friend' earlier, with a few nearby kids, but all of them had instead chosen to snob him, especially those cool looking reptile themed teenagers with cool denim jackets and sunglasses.

"You just put a coin in and press those buttons, they're to use fighting moves. What you gotta do in the game is to use your character to progress level by level until you get to the final boss and then you win! Most people here just play for fun, though there are some that play competitively, like those names on the leaderboard." Muninn explains, pointing at the leaderboard scores, with weird names such as: GUS, HRE, and the legendary player at number 1 — AAA.

"Oh, it's a fighting game? This'll be super easy then!" Leo said with a smug grin, then put in a coin, watching as the game starts.

...

"Why aren't you moving? Why're you just kicking the air?" Muninn asks, as Leo slowly starts to panic.

"I- it won't move!? How do I move again?"

"Use the joystick!"

"Oh- okay-" Leo says, then stares at the buttons. "This one?" He asks, pointing at the little rod protruding out of the board.

"Yeah, move it to the right."

"... this isn't a trap, is it?" He asks cautiously, hands hovering over the buttons as if the characters on screen would come out and start attacking him the moment he presses it.

Huginn rolls his eyes, jumping off his shoulder and onto the control board of the machine.

"Here, let _me_ play—"

"What! No way, you're gonna waste my coins!!" Leo says angrily, swatting him away, which Huginn expertly dodges, used to the other's violent tendencies to smack at him whenever he felt like it.

"I was gonna do it to teach you, you stinking buttface, but now since you said that I'm not going to!" Huginn angrily said, sticking a tongue out, only to have to dodge another swing.

"Guys could you—" Muninn is cut off by the other two shouting.

"You're a dirty liar!"

"Am not!!"

"Guys—"

They both kept arguing, ignoring Muninn's attempts at a peaceful resolution as they resorted to just name-calling.

"Idiot!"

"Dog Breath!"

"Bird Face!"

Muninn did not like this, however.

"You two SHUT UP!!" Muninn yells, and they both recoil back, flinching. "Do you both wanna waste time just standing around doing nothing or are we gonna play this game!?"

"He started it!" Leo pointed out, but Muninn rebounds.

"You shouldn't have escalated it! Just-..." He jumps off the other shoulder, sticking to the sides so as to not block the machine, and orders Huginn to do the same on the other side. "We'll _teach_ you, okay?"

"...okay."

* * *

Leo wants to come home two hours before the curfew, in fear that he would be punished if he was late. Huginn disagrees.

“Dude, seriously we have like 2 hours left, and you wanna go home?” Huginn asks, and Leo silently nods. “... we’re not in the Battle Nexus anymore, you’re not gonna get locked in if you cause trouble. Not gonna be punished. And you’re like... _miles_ away from Big Mama and her shit crew.”

"... You're not supposed to swear when I'm around."

"Who gives a fuck, Muninn isn't here. Plus, I'm obviously right, don't tell me you disagree."

They had sat down at a bench, staring at the gemstones that were shining above them, engraved into the stone. Leo’s read about stars before, on the surface, and he wonders if the gemstones were kind of like that in a way., so pretty and small, but so far away and out of reach.

“It's better this way. I don’t-“ - _wanna be abandoned, don’t wanna cause trouble, don’t wanna, don’t wanna_...

Huginn has so many words he can think of that he guesses the other would’ve used, but he keeps his mouth shut about it. He knew better.

“He’s not gonna be mad.”

“You don’t know that!”

“I don’t know anything about him anymore. It's been years.”

“Correction, it's been a year and a half-ish. That's nothing on the 10 you’ve spent with him.” Huginn never liked the way the boy seemed so unsure of himself. So confident on stage, in front of people, such a natural mask that almost everyone could be fooled. Maybe its a curse, being able to tell how the kid felt, being able to just... _know_ when his laugh — his smile — just felt _off._ That it was fake.

“... I wanna go home, Huginn, _please…_ ”

There it was again. That… emotional vulnerability, so real, and one that Leo almost always only seems to direct to him - maybe because he was the only one who ever notices. Huginn would’ve said he felt honored that Leo would only willingly open up to him at times like these if only he knew what to say next. But he doesn’t… so instead, he does what he always did, back at the bedroom, and now, while they sit in the park and enjoy the breeze shifting in the air.

“... okay, let’s go home.”

* * *

Leo, 13, gasps, gaping at the shiny weapons on display. Now a teenager, Draxum finally allows Leo to pick a mystic weapon, as he is 'ready' (or so the kid says he is).

“You may choose o-”

“DIBS ON THE SWORD!!!” He shouts, despite having no competition, snatching the ōdachi off the wall, and swinging it around with no care of the safety of the other living being in the room, accidentally knocking a bunch of other weapons off another shelf, as he sheepishly apologizes.

“So, how do I use it?” He asks, with a huge smile on his face, making silly poses from that 'anime' show he was watching recently.

“You-”

“Nevermind, I’ll figure it out!!” His voice echoes around the halls, as he runs off.

Draxum stares on, looking at his schedule, before crumpling it and throwing it away. He should’ve known Leo could never really be expected to stick to the schedule. And concerning the scream of sheer terror, which was probably him discovering that the sword could make portals, maybe they should just stick to one weapon training for now.

* * *

"Are you _sure_ ya' wanna mess around _me_ kid? I don't play around, ya know." The hug snake yokai hissed, tongue flickering at him as he stood a good 2 feet higher than the other. The self-proclaimed 'top dog' of the game area. Nobody messed with him. Nobody, except a blue-capped turtle yokai leaning against a nearby wall, relaxed, despite being surrounded by

Leonardo, now 14, only grins. "Really? That's too bad then since I would've just loved it if you could have played some rounds with me along the ol' arcade." He shrugged, turning away, as the other snakes and reptiles snickered at him. Here came the bait:

"I guess the leader of the High Fangs is actually a chicken after all."

Everyone fell silent, some gasping and oohing at the obvious provocation.

" _What_ did you say, punk!? I can beat you in any of these games, your pick!!"

His grin grew bigger. Bait taken.

...

"Aaaaaaand BOOM!!" Leo grins, high-fiving both the goyles with both hands as he watches his name proudly plastered onto No. 1: LEO, with a new high score, alongside all the other LEO's from 2 - 20, successfully beating all the previous players, as he's surrounded by others watching in awe.

He turns to the cool snake yokai gang staring at him either in awe, with a huge grin on his face. Their leader gritting his teeth and angrily looking at him, hissing in sheer anger.

Always take down the top dog first, then the rest of them will fall.

"Read em' and weep, boys. There's a _new_ champion in town."

* * *

Leo comes home late from the arcade, and Draxum is waiting in the lobby with a stare that can only be explained as a disapproving fatherly look.

"It's already 11 pm! You should've been back an hour ago!!"

"It's fiiiine, I'm back now, aren't I?" Leo says, putting his hands behind his head, stretching a little as he yawns.

"It is not! Rules are set in place for a reason!! What if something happened to you!? I would've..." Draxum continues on scolding him, as Leo rolls his eyes.

“Do not roll your eyes at me, young man!”

“It was just one time, jeez!” He retorts.

“You’re talking back to me!?”

“Just let it go!! I’ll be back at 10 tomorrow. I’m going to my room!”

“Leo!!” When he is ignored, Draxum stomps on the ground. “LEONARDO!! GET BACK HERE!”

But there is no response, only a faint door slamming.

“Wow, they grow up fast, eh, Draxum?” Huginn snickers but immediately shuts up at the stink eye.

* * *

Leo overhears the angry ranting of his dad two rooms away.

“--THINK HE IS ANYWAYS!? STEALING FROM ME!? I HAVE LOST 10 WEAPONS AT THIS POINT AND THE CAMERAS HAVE CAUGHT _NOTHING_ AND I AM TIRED OF THIS SHIT! WHO DOES THIS ORANGE TANGERINE _MOTHER FUCKER_ THINK HE IS-”

Leo has never heard his father swear before, the first time for everything right? Still, it sounded extremely out of character, but he _couldn’t_ stop eavesdropping, nor walk away, too curious.

Needless to say, Leo learned 50 new swear words that day.

* * *

Leo breathes in the fresh air, and relaxes into the bench, finally having some space from a certain goatman, before getting pinged by a _certain_ annoying dad who had disabled his mute button. Maybe he could just ignore it. But then again, last time he did that... he shivered at the thought. Never again.

“Ugh, I’ll be right back.” He rolls his eyes, true to his rebellious nature as a teen. He asks Muninn to hold his ice cream for him real quick, and with an expert wrist swipe of his sword, he jumps into the portal, leaving the area with a zip. He fails to notice the other silhouette watching him.

Once the portal fully closes, he disappears away into an alley.

“Hey Huginn, did you notice that orange-themed bandana figure in the corner, or was it just me.”

“No, I saw him too.”

“Should we be worried?”

“Nah.”

The conversation ends there, as both of them eat their ice creams in silence, waiting for the turtle yokai to return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun writing this! And I hope you have fun reading it as well.
> 
> One down, three to go.


	3. 2 - Donatello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donatello remembers a lot from his past.
> 
> What, with his amazing memory, of course he does. Full of twists and turns, and _drama_.
> 
> Said past will now be recounted to you clip by clip. In:
> 
> 3...
> 
> 2...
> 
> 1...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for [Kay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ithekay) for beta-ing this chappie!
> 
> Could always rely on them for a quick moral boost, or when I needed someone to check my docs.

He remembers that day all too perfectly.

The year-old turtle stretches his little webby feet, before resting snuggly next to the other three, their scents familiar and comforting to him, as he lets himself relax. He recalls the softness of the cloth below his tiny three-toed claws, as he slid them around to feel the cottony texture of the fabric, before nestling into the warmth beside his fellow brethren.

And maybe if the memory ended there, it still would've been a pleasant one.

But it does not.

Alas, life doesn't ever do what you want it to — as the greats say, the only true certainty is _uncertainty!_

And by that he means, feces was about to come into contact harshly with the metaphorical spinning fan blades, and he would be there to receive a faceful of the metaphorical _shit_ heading for his face.

So the next part plays, like a dream slowly devolving into a nightmare. He remembers waking up to familiar tentacles grabbing them out of the box, then getting placed into some sort of yellow water, surrounding him and the others, as it turns into a sickly glowing shade of green. There is a reflection of himself in front of him imprinted onto the glass, growing bigger and bigger, and then suddenly... nothing.

He starts to slide, spiraling downwards along with the goo, draining and spilling, bringing him along as he falls headfirst onto the floor amongst the others covered in slick green slime.

Tiny he truly did not understand what was going on, but with or without the mutagen doing its work in his brain slowly turning him into the incredible genius he is today, animal instincts itself were shouting at him that _something_ was about to go incredibly _wrong._ Despite the heads up, he's struggling to put strength into his now longer legs and arms much longer and unfamiliar than before, his futile endeavors at escaping ending in a half-hearted attempt at crawling away, his body sprawled across the floor in an x-formation.

Then comes screaming, unintelligible sounds echoing from all around, sounds of struggling and crackling, and screeching. He is confused, disoriented, but still attempts to warn the others of the collapsing ceiling through a shrill whine.

He barely has any time to react, a huge flash of light blinding him, and he can hardly _hear_ anything as he gets knocked away, and onto his shell. He turns himself upright just in time to see the other two get thrown elsewhere, and one of them being barely missed by falling debris. He starts crawling towards the other, whose leg was stuck under the huge rock — for what reason, he didn't know. Perhaps to comfort him, despite his instincts telling him to _run away_ from the danger.

 _An idiotic decision,_ he thinks in the present, but he isn't sure if he wouldn't not do the same thing today.

But then another huge explosion blows right next to them, _bigger_ than anything he has ever seen. He only stares for a moment, with reflectively bright wide eyes — seeing the flashy blue flames swirling all around him, warm- _hot_ , surrounding him, pushing him away —, and then being caught in the blast, thrown _far_ away from the other turtle he could barely hear still screaming for him.

Then pain jolted throughout his entire body, and he blacks out.

It takes him a few minutes to awaken, and gather his bearings, realizing he landed onto soft dirt nearby a crystal clear lake. The nearby pebbles sticking out had scratched along his plastron, jagged white lines tracing across the brown, but other than that he wasn't really in a lot of pain. Thankfully, he wasn't too injured from the high fall.

He looks around, addled. He did not know where he was, nor where the others were, but he knows he's _alive_ , and he's _survived._

Looking back at the building which he presumed to be where he was thrown out and away from Death’s grubby and cold hands, he stared in horror when all he saw was flames and wooden planks, metal and rock all jutted out, the building in complete shambles. He concludes that... the others probably did not survive. A curious throb clenched his chest area, and his eyes started to become wet for no reason at all.

Somehow it hurt more than the dull throbbing of his limbs.

But he knew he had to survive.

So he attempts to crawl away, still unused to his new body — too big, too _lanky_ — his claws had become more chunky, chubby, and soft. Staring at them, he clenches and unclenches, then tries to get up on his hind claws- _legs_ before falling onto his butt. Grabbing onto the dirt, he feels it into his hands and it digs into his nails, before getting onto his knees, and puts one hand in front of him. Then he puts the other onto the front of his left hand, then he repeats, and he feels like he's made progress.

But now he feels like he's being stretched, and so he looks at his behind, then does the same thing. One. Two. One. Two. Then he moves them simultaneously. One two. One two. One two. This time he's confident enough to move his arms as well.

He trips, but easily gets up again. Getting used to the montomy of the swing, he doesn’t even think about it anymore when he moves.

One two. One two. One two, one two, one two…

Before he knew it, he had crawled 5 meters away from his original spot.

Proud of himself, he plops down onto his butt, and takes a rest and closes his eyes, feeling a little drowsy.

At least, that was, until his stomach growled loudly in protest, feeling the rumbling echo loudly in the eerily silent space. He blinked, realizing this feeling as being hungry. At this point, the big purple one should have come and fed them. But he wasn't here...

He remembers a short time before the big one took him in.

Hatching. And then... hunting.

He turns to the water and sees air bubbles rise to the surface of the cool crystal lake.

 _Food_.

He saunters into the water, dipping into it and out of view.

* * *

"Look at im', that's an absolute massive sof' shell, ain't it?"

"A what?"

"A sof' shell. Ya know' those, turtle thingies from the human world! It'll probably sell really well in dat' human auction house for weird animals." The fox's thick voice called to the others, as he slowly approached the small creature wedged under the rock and the dirt, staring at them with beady black eyes.

"You mean the black market. And yeah, looks like it belongs to the human world in the first place, so it ain't technically illegal." The other fox one says with a sly grin baring teeth on her face, playing with the rope in her hands. " _In fact_ , we're doing the folks here a favor and putting him back where he actually belongs. I bet ten unicorns that some crazy mad scientist decided to experiment on him."

The first one starts approaching slowly, casually. The turtle doesn't move, seemingly frozen.

"I dunno Gerald, what'f it got dat' rabies disease like dat' dog thingy we got last time!?" Another yells, a colorful feathered parrot, and points his flashlight at the general direction of the creature, as it flinches, and scampers backwards, before hitting the end of the rock.

"Stop that you idiot, ye’r gonna scare im’! And, it’s a _turtle_ , they don't have rabies! Jus' grab im' an' let's see how much he sells fer'! If he don't sell well then let's just eat em' for snacks later." Gerard says, before taking a gander and rushing forwards. The turtle quickly tries to back away and starts crawling for the nearest water pond. Someplace to hide better presumably _,_ but the fox is quick — _way too quick_ — and he getspicked up, the hold on him too tight even as he thrashes around and screeches.

"This thing's pretty heavy!" He yells, having to use both of his hands to hold him still as he wiggles and squirms, before being stuffed into a brown sack, as the female fox quickly circles the hole with the rope and ties the knot, before throwing it over her shoulder.

"C'mon, let's put im' in with the others."

And the turtle is taken away. 

* * *

He doesn't remember much about what happened after his abduction.

Well, he does, but it was just _boring._ And mostly just an uncomfortable situation, a claustrophobic's worst nightmare.

Sweat trickled down his chin, as he watched the blurry and muffled lights flash around him, teasing the outside world that had been barely visible through the brown fibers of the sack. He can't move his arms or legs in the tightly compacted space, his muscles aching, unused to being bound, especially from the thick, restraining and itchy binds. What's worse, is that it stays like this for what felt like an unbearably long time to him.

He stays still in hopes that perhaps he can play dead like he's seen one of the other creatures do, and be thrown out and back into the lake. It was a small and slowly dying hope that kept getting difficult to believe the longer time passed — the lake was probably long gone, but he couldn't help but be disheartened and disappointed that it never happened —, as the jostling kept taking its toll on him, feeling dizzy, and tired, and he just wanted to sleep, but he can’t, because of the sudden sharp turns keeping him alert.

Then it stops.

There is a short moment of silence, the only sound that remains is his slow rhythmic and muffled breaths and stares at his curled up hands, wondering what was happening now.

He feels the sack slack a little, and the previously closed-off entry point opens, revealing blaring fluorescents that blind him for a moment, and he feels himself be picked up again. It takes his eyes a good second to adjust to the brightness, before he can finally scope out the room. It's mostly just white paint scraping off of cement walls, with its most prominent quality the cages lining up at the sides, all containing different types of creatures; some he's become familiar with as predators, some he's never seen before in his life — some with fur all over their bodies, with long tails swishing and swirling, some with scales covering them entirely like armor, spiky ones, and even more being hidden by shadows or their cages.

He sees all this as he is moved, and then he is placed into one of his own, not at all gently, as he falls onto his shell with a pained yelp. Quickly getting to his feet, he looks up at the giant staring down at him before disappearing completely behind the shutting of the cage with a slam.

He slides a hand around the bars of his cage, wondering if there is a way to slip out, to find a nearby lake, and fall into it and hide from his captors. But the bars are too small, and his entire body is aching, so instead, he chooses to rest for now, conserve his energy.

He glances around the cage, with its barren grey metal bars preventing escape, and cold floor. There were two bowls on the end of the cage, both empty, its silver sheen reflecting the light from outside, and his own face, giving him a glimpse of what he looks like. He's seen his hands before, but not his face. He crawls towards it, blinking and seeing how... odd his face really was. He hasn't seen any others like him before, which only made the lonely aching in his heart worsen.

He is cold and hungry, and so very alone, but it seems there was nothing to do but wait, and watch.

It's alright, though. He can adapt to his situation. He always does.

* * *

He stiffens as he is picked up, turned around, and feels eyes scanning his backside. A shiver passes through his spine as a cold latex-gloved finger grazes his soft shell, making him wince as he tries pulling away once more.

They seemed to be looking for anything that might be wrong with him; injuries, bruising, or maybe the first symptoms of diseases. They check his head, then his arms...

The huge monster with shining glassy eyes showing his reflection grabs his leg, pulling at it. Instinctively, his body started to kick to break free, but the other's hold was tight, as his eyes trail downwards as well to what it was looking at: The tag on his leg, which dug a perfectly round symmetrical red mark across his ankle. It's been there as long as he could remember, the big purple one from what seemed like long ago tagged him with it, along with the others, before being placed back onto the box.

It was way too small for him now, but he didn't know _how_ to pull it out exactly without hurting himself, so there it stayed, a constant pain for so long that it was causing only mild discomfort at his point.

The one holding him has his eyebrows furrowed but stays silent as his eyes drift left and right, reading the tag, before grabbing the sharp-looking instrument on the metal tray. He stares with wide eyes, knowing what was about to happen. His mind runs quick, as it always did, processing stuff more quickly than his body can react — _knows shiny glints in correlation to sharp is bad, bright light = pain, sharp = pain-_ his brain comes to the conclusion, even before he can even move, a sharp gasp rising and escaping his throat.

He clenches his eyes tight and whimpers as he feels cold metal sliding across his leg, expecting excruciating pain to sear through his limb like wildfire at any moment now — if he even had a leg after this.

And then...

 _Snip_.

Suddenly, the pain is gone, in its place aching muscle. The spot it had held captive so long felt... odd, unused to the free air, a tiny straight dent across his ankle. He always did have a bit of a hard time swimming with the circulation cut off like that, his foot a little deformed but not visible if only caught in a glance.

He watches with wide beady eyes, as the tag is put next to him, as he is placed down for a moment, the huge monster turning away to fiddle with something else.

He grabs his leg with shaky hands, rubbing along it, feeling the indentation across his scales. Then to the tag, black lines smudged across the white paper, all forming some sort of... word. But he doesn't ( _can't_ ) understand it. It feels... nostalgic, in a way. Maybe it just felt _important_ , or he wanted a new little puzzle to work on, so instead of discarding it, he holds it tightly in his fist, as the man returns to pick him up, and places him back into his cage.

* * *

The turtle watches on in silence, as he always did. Maybe watching how everything would play out was just a habit at this point, all of this a little game to him, not that there was much room to do anything else in his tiny little cell anyways.

Because of this little habit of his, he's picked up on how this 'shop' worked. Two years have gone by at this point, he thinks, and all he's done is watch as time flies by with not much of a fuss. The only thing he can really sort of complain about, was how hard he has to strain himself to see things far away. Then again, he didn’t need good eyesight to get to the food or water bowls, so it never really bothered him much anymore.

His thoughts bring him back to the store, what usually happens to the others that get put here; humans would come every so often and check on them, and then a 'lucky' one or two creatures would get picked and taken away. To where? Well, he couldn't really answer that. _Or maybe he could_ , seeing as he's learned how to speak the man's language, how to shift his tongue around to form coherent words, has formed them into sentences, muttered them to himself, has spoken before, but not to the humans, and especially not to his _captors_.

Truthfully, he sort of likes it here, even if it was boring most of the time with nothing to challenge his mind, or work on. Free food, shelter, health check-ups, and the like. No need to keep one eye open as he sleeps to check for predators, or wonder if he's gonna be able to survive the week, with his stomach growling and churning, yearning for food, begging him to hunt despite being so low on energy.

But here, things were more simple. He didn't have to do much of anything, just sit here and look pretty, and wait until someone decides to buy him off the owner's hands.

Though he wasn't expecting to be bought today, as always, whoever wanted a new pet, would just skip his little cage, as they always did. Despite his abnormal size he still was just a common 'soft-shell turtle'. Not exactly the best product. He was not 'cute', nor 'flashy', and not 'pretty' or 'eye-catching' as the abductors described those who would easily be bought off, and gone even before the week was over. The words he did not understand, but he knew you had to at least be one of those if you had any chance of getting out of here.

He glances at his markings along his arms and legs; dark-ish purple against the green hue of his scales. Practically the opposite of standing out, with it being barely visible, and even more so with the shadows concealing the cage, his colors blending and meshing with each other. Some might say they complemented each other.

It was good camouflage for a while back at the lake, among the rooted weeds floating up, but here, it didn't really help his case much.

The creeps who captured him got well reprimanded for picking out such a dull-colored specimen, but still decided to keep him around, possibly because they were running low on sellable creatures (though he wasn't sure).

Back in the present and out of his thoughts, he hears them talking once more, as the turtle tries to peek through the bars, adjusting his placement to the rightmost side of his cage, his shoulders bumping against metal, and even then the bars refused to let him see clearly, blocking his view.

He's seen many types of humans that would enter here and pick out one or two from their batch; from wide broad ones to skinny lanky ones, fair-skinned to dark, all of them as diverse as he was amongst his fellow captured wild associates.

Today, it was a man, huge with bulging muscles, and blonde hair, and he can barely see the sly grin on his blurry face as he chats up the manager who often accompanies the humans on picking what animal would suit best their wants, and a little girl, holding the other's hand as she looks around. He can't see them quite well from his vantage point, but as they cross the hallway, he moves closer, and gets a better look at the little girl barely taller than his cage. She stops right in front of it and crouches to get a better look at him, unbeknownst to her, letting the turtle examine her better as well.

She had black hair, and brown skin, narrow black eyes, and a small mole below her left eye, a rather fish-eyed look on her face, as she stared at him as if inspecting an ant under a microscope.

"Ugly freak." She mumbles, directed to him, as she flashes him a toothy grin that he took as a threat. He didn't exactly know what the word meant, but the way she says it, and how easily she disrespects his personal space by wagging a finger in between the bars — as if teasing him, how _she_ was out there, free, while _he_ was stuck here, trapped — made him _angry_. It's an emotion he remembers back in the lake when some _jerk_ would steal his food even when he so obviously made it clear it was _his_. Or back in the lab, when the smallest turtle would dig under him affectionately and topple him over with an amused look in his eyes.

And so he stands frozen for a moment, processing the rising rage boiling in the pits of his stomach and searing through his chest as he ponders on what he should do. Then he looks up with a mischievous look in his beady eyes, forwards, closer and closer — she doesn't pull away, _big mistake —_ and bites her finger.

She yelps, backing away a little hissing through grit teeth as she examined her hand. There didn't seem to be any visible blood, the bite obviously hadn't pierced through the skin, but it should have been enough of a warning for her to finally take him seriously or leave him alone if the tiny teeth shaped curved marks across it was any indication.

"Kendra, is something wrong?"

The girl- Kendra(?), the turtle notes, turns to the blonde man. She could easily say what truly happened and get the turtle in trouble — possibly get him kicked out for this incident. Or... disposed of. Both situations didn't seem any good for the turtle, and he starts to regret the thoughtless rash action. To his surprise, she hides her hand behind her back instead.

"It's nothing, Dad." She mumbles and waits until the man turns back to the other adult in the room before turning back to the turtle who sticks a tongue out, teasing her. She growls, her hands balling into fists, before getting her face close to the bars, though making sure she doesn’t have any appendages sticking into it again.

"You little-" She starts to whisper harshly, a furious expression ingrained into her features before it relaxes into a thoughtful one, and her lips twist into a sinister grin. "Oh, I know _exactly_ how to get back at you, you little freak."

...

Kendra was, in all rights, _pissed_.

Her father had brought her here for the specific purpose of picking out a tiny little addition to their family for Kendra's birthday. Feeling as though a common mutt or a calico were too basic, naturally, the first decision he comes to is to bring the _6-year-old_ into an illegal black market place to pick out her own gift. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

Back to the point, they had entered this dingy pet store, having advertised never before seen creatures of 'mystic origin'.

Complete bullshit, basically.

Still, she wasn't really paying attention to whatever the man was saying, trailing behind her father in silence, not too keen on choosing any of the diseased flea-ridden stinky freaks littered in the cages. She had stopped in front of one with this curious-looking turtle — looking way more human than any turtle she's ever seen before, more human toddler shaped, than turtle toddler shaped. She had decided to tease it to see its reaction, and it actually had the gall to _bite_ her!?

So naturally, she wanted to get her revenge.

"I want that one." She says, her stubby pointer finger pointing straight at him, as she gives her father a sickly sweet smile.

The idiot turtle looks back at her in shock, his face settles into confusion. She can play the long game. She was stubborn, and she would _never_ quit until she got what she wanted. She would make this little freak submit to her, and torture him for the rest of his stupid life. This was just the start of her revenge, after all, as she watches her father walking over to see her selection, bending over and inspecting him with a critical eye.

The turtle freezes under the blonde blue-eyed icy stare the man gave. If the girl's gaze looked intimidating, this guy's was maybe ten times worse, making him feel as though he was watched by a predator — a being wholly superior to him in every possible way, who could easily decide if he was gonna live or die — as he tenses up, and casts his gaze downwards, no longer able to keep up eye contact.

"It looks very exotic, yes, good choice for my sweet little angel." Kristoff chuckles, placing a large hand on his daughter's head, and patting it affectionately as the other leans into the touch happily, for one holding a genuine smile on her face. The manager, however, didn't seem to be as satisfied with her selection. "Are you sure, little girl? We haven't even gotten to the end of the hallway yet! And he isn't very... popular with kids your age. Maybe you should wait until-"

"Do we have a problem, Mr. Viviozo?" The man asks with crossed (absolutely _ripped_ ) arms, his accent thick on his tongue as he narrows his eyes at the cowering manager way shorter than him.

Kendra looked up at him with bright grateful eyes and copied his stance, sticking her tongue out from behind her father.

"N-not at all! Alright then, we will prepare it r-right away, Mr. Bradford!" He says, calling over another man, who opens his cage and pulls out the squirming turtle by the shell, who flails his arms around and hisses at the rough treatment. "G-good choice! Now we can talk about the payment then?" The manager laughs nervously, as the humanoid mutant creature is taken away to be cleaned up.

Kendra listens keenly at how her father talks to the manager, amazed at how easily he shifts the prices to his favor, how he distracts him with small talk and got him to agree to a way lower price than what the turtle actually cost, and she couldn't help but mutter a tiny 'wow' in amazement.

A few moments later, the man comes back with the creature in tow, a little fancy bow tie around his neck, which he tries to get out of, scratching at his neck in annoyance. His scales were cleaned, and it revealed a nice shade of jade green, not too dull like she had seen earlier in his cage, while she only now noticed the purple stripes that ran across his arms and thighs, looking more like Tetris blocks than anything.

Kendra laughs at the other, who didn't even hide the displeased pout on his snout, before pulling out her phone to take a flashed picture of him. The bright light makes him flinch _hard_ , as he hides away into his shell.

The girl raises her eyebrow at this, interested in his adverse reaction to the light. Well, she supposes it could have scared him. _Good_.

After a few seconds, he peeks out and sees Kendra still smiling at him smugly.

The fearful expression on his features dissipates, replaced with an indignant look that seemed to easily convey his feelings that out of all the people who could buy him in this world, it had to be _her._

Despite this, he doesn't resist the process, even as he is once again picked up, and put into another cage, this one much smaller than his last one, but still sizable enough to fit him comfortably. The man hands it to her, and she accepts it, easily carrying it in between her hands, as they walk back to their car.

All in all, Kendra was quite satisfied with her choice.

...

Her name is 'Kendra', he finds out after listening to the big blonde man's words during the car ride, and how she seems to give her attention to whoever spoke said name. And the other's... was named 'Dad'. He thinks so, at least. He wasn't quite sure, to be honest.

This whole thing just felt _ridiculous_.

A name itself was a foreign concept to the turtle. What was the point of it? It just seemed... useless. Impractical. Having a name did not guarantee survival, nor did it feed you, nor keep you warm on particularly cold days. But for some reason, the turtle felt like... _he_ should have one as well. It just felt... right. He _wanted_ a name. It wasn't physical, corporeal enough to be taken away from him. It would feel like it belonged to him alone.

But maybe that was asking too much.

The slight jostling of the cage as the car hits road bumps remind the turtle of when he was in the brown sack, being transported to another place once more. The collar on his neck felt like it was choking him, as he tried his best to loosen it up, even a little bit. Eventually, he gives up, and sighs.

He was a 'pet' now.

He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not, as he fumbles around with his previous leg tag, the only souvenir he has from way back from the lab, carried even to the lake and the shop, as he looks at it; letters he couldn't understand in bold black ink stared back at him, and he can't help but feel the rise of frustration that came from trying to understand it again.

He had kept it because he _wanted_ to know what it said. He was tagged with it, therefore his 'name' should be in this tag, right? That was why he held onto it for so long... or maybe that wasn't the reason he still carried it around.

Why he kept it really, he didn't know. He wouldn't die if he just threw it away, but...

It felt important somehow.

As if... tethering him to the other turtles from before. From what felt like so long ago.

He had stuffed it in the small space between his scales and his plastron, wedged it in really tight so that they wouldn't take it away. He lets his fingers slowly thread across it, feeling the rough coarseness of the surface, feeling the bumps and nicks of the ballpen's point pushing too hard, hiding behind black ink.

Eventually, his brain settles down, as he finds a small neat place to take a quick nap at, where the sun's rays hit, but not hot enough to hurt. He basks in the light, and slowly drifts to sleep, under the slow rocking of the car, grasping the tag with his hands.

* * *

The place was nothing like he has seen before. He never knew there could be such an abundant amount of violet in a room before. The only time he's seen such eye-catching violets before, it was on the poisonous frogs swimming around the lake, and back then in the lab with the big one. Apparently, this... was where he would be staying, rooming with the irritating girl from before.

Well, it wasn't the worst fate in the world at least.

"So here is where you sleep, okay, freak?" Kendra says, pointing at the dog bed snuck into the very corner of her room, looking very comfy and _very_ violet. It looks his new caretaker had a favorite color. "I kinda expected more... fur." She motioned at the litter box.

He raises an eye ridge, looking back at her, and back at the bed. Was it a trap? The 'Kendra' figure was a mischievous trickster, often finding numerous ways to cause him discomfort or pain. Needless to say, he did not trust anything she said or told him to do.

He huffs and looks away, refusing to move from his spot.

"Fine, don't use it. I don't care." She shrugs, and turns away to face the full-length mirror, pretending to examine her face on it, but very visibly and obviously glancing back at him once in a while.

Realizing he wasn't gonna get out of here without 'falling for it', albeit purposefully, he carefully steps into it, letting his foot feel the nicely sewn fabric stuffed with feathers on it, testing out the weight, before glancing one last time at the other, seeing her peeking through the blankets almost curiously, then sits down. The moment his butt hits the soft cushion putting all his weight onto the soft cushions there is a clicking sound, and before he can react he is being thrown across the room, screaming all the way, before slamming headfirst into the opposing wall.

Kendra's laugh reverberates around the wall, eventually devolving into a cackle, as he hears her take more and more pictures to make fun of him later.

The turtle grits his teeth, groaning as he struggles to get back up, trembling a little. He looks back at the cushions now bouncing back and forth — a spring mechanism which probably activated the moment he shifted his weight to fully rest on the cushions. He turns back at her, a resentful glare shooting daggers into her soul. Oh if only looks could kill, then Kendra would be the prey and he wouldn't feel so _weak_.

"Don't look so glum, it was a _joke_." She chuckles, before her face settles into a self-pleased sly grin, her eyes narrowed as she stares back at him with a haughty expression, waving off his anger. "I'll fix your bed later, kay? I'm kind of a genius at stuff like this."

Oh, but he was already thinking up ways to get back at her. He was gonna get her back _good_ , somehow. He didn't care if he couldn't hurt her with words — that was another type of revenge itself, refusing her the benefit of hearing him speak —, he could hurt her in a ton of other ways.

All it needs is a little patience and creativity.

* * *

The turtle watches as she comes in, practically covered in head to toe with medals.

"Ugh, today was so annoying." She groaned, shedding the multiple awards to the carpeted floor, along with some sort of robot with a broken arm, as he felt the ground resonantly thud across the wooden floorboards, and waddled onto the bed and into the sheets, not bothering to change from her school wear. He cautiously steps forwards, and knelt down, inspecting the wondrous shiny objects. It wasn't — _didn't seem_ — like a dangerous glint — there were dangerous ones, and safe ones he had found out —, still, he kept his distance. What if it was toxic? Or Kendra rigged it with a trap?

He slowly and hesitantly reached out, poking it with a finger, before quickly backing away, watching with wide eyes at what sort of contraption he had set off.

And...

After a few seconds of standing in wait, holding his breath... nothing.

Ignoring Kendra's constant ranting about how the competition wasn't even worth giving her all in since everyone's inventions were 'trash', but then a 'rival' who was totally jealous of her accidentally 'bumped' into her project and completely ruined it —, he wasn't really quite sure about all the details. He wasn't paying attention, too busy gawking at the shiny items on the floor.

Now that he knew they weren't (at least not immediately) a danger, they were actually very... well, pretty, and eye-catching.

He watches her robot, and after a few moments of nervous glancing at the object of interest, takes it with both of his hands and inspects it all around, settling into a cross-legged sit.

Hm...

It was very basic in its shapes, and of course, purple colored as is customary of all things Kendra makes.

But what interested him more was the odd protruding key sticking out from its back. He turns it and places it down onto the carpet, watching it move forwards with ease, hobbling a little, albeit with its arm hanging by a wire. It kinda reminded him of when that other turtle got his foot stuck.

He cocks his head, then turns back to the medals.

If the robot was injured, then...

He waddles over and pulls on the lowest nearby drawer, and snatches a pair of scissors and some thread and a needle.

He remembers the man from before, how he would use these objects. It was like magic, how he could clean up a particularly nasty wound, especially when one of the flea-covered creatures would nearly bite and scratch all their fur off and itching their sharp claws through the skin.

His fingers comfortably slip into the scissors half as big as him, and he snips a half-length fabric red part of the medallion. Placing it next to him, he makes quick work with sticking the thread into the needle, hands steady and precise, then knots the end and cuts the long part.

He grabs the fabric and twirls it around the arm, holding it in place before grabbing the needles and making cross stitches, until he's satisfied at the tight fit of the fabric. He slowly gets on the bed and sits, gently tapping the small bump under it, trying to get her attention.

Kendra comes out, looking irritated.

" _What_?"

He shows her the robot and the stitch job he's made and gives her a shy smile. It was more so a peace offering and a way to cheer her up than anything.

 _Take it,_ he beckoned with his eyes.

"What the hell?" She growled, slapping it away. "Leave me alone, freak!"

The mutant stared in horror as the robot hit the wall with such force that its other arm fell out of its socket. He felt his eyes start to tear up, but he wipes them away quickly and gets off the bed all the while sniffling.

He picks up the robot, scissors, and needle and thread, and stuff them back into the dresser, before settling into his bed and rubs at his eyes, facing the wall, hoping she didn't see it and he wouldn't have to go through getting mocked again, at least for the time being

_Why did he even bother?_

* * *

The turtle snickers as he listens to the human scream from the bathroom, as she busts out the room, eyebrows very obviously are gone, and so is all the proof of the crime that he has committed.

Now, you may ask what genius plan he's concocted, and how he manages to pull it off?

By the power of observation — his most useful and refined skill so far — of course!

He's been allowed to roam around the halls, now having access to it without having to ask the human for help, given a very unappealing doggy door by Kendra herself — basically, just a mini-door installed into the actual door, only because he couldn't reach the door handle yet.

He sees her put hair gel on in front of the bedroom mirror, and he notices how she always puts some on her eyebrows for... no apparent reason. Heck, even he didn't have eyebrows.

The maid that comes every so often — the one who knew about him, who didn't even seem _phased_ about the abnormally large bipedal turtle with _hands_ — always refills them every 7 days, leading him to realize that he could _work_ with this. Another thing he notices is those ads on TV. Something about this... essence that removes

So, basically, in summary...

... he replaced her hair gel with shaving cream. And her screams of horror were like music to his ear lobes.

* * *

He had attempted to start learning how to read the moment Kendra accidentally leaves her book wide open on her bed.

With a burning determination, he wiggled, waddled, fought against the sheets, but failed to get up to the tall princess bed Kendra easily climbed onto every day.

He scans the room for a way to get up and finds his lucky break on the metal fence surrounding the sides of the bed. There stood a cabinet positioned right next to it, so being the calculating turtle he was, he pulls onto the bottom drawer, climbing onto the ledge, and then pulls on the second one, just enough as to not lose his balance, using it as leverage to finally be able to reach the top of the metal, and grabs it, before jumping onto it, flipping over and falling on his face into the soft cushions of her pillow.

He crawls to the book, full of lines and curves, meshed together into long sentences that he could barely understand. He pulls out his tag, putting it next to the words. There were definitely similar-looking patterns, as he compares, and mentally jots down all of them.

He looks around suspiciously, checking to see if anyone is around, before mumbling under his breath.

"D... Duh... Doe..."

He continues to read, unaware of the cameras blinking a single red eye above him, zooming in and watching him silently.

* * *

The turtle was 6-years-old when he finally spoke in front of a human. To the stupid Kendra girl he loathed, no less.

"Shut up!" He snaps one day, in the middle of Kendra ruthlessly insulting him again — knowing ( _thinking_ ) he couldn't retaliate must have given her some sort of feeling of superiority over him — before slapping his mouth shut. He wasn't supposed to talk, this was _bad,_ he _knows_ he's a freak of nature, and he also knows humans were the only ones who had the ability to use their tongues like this, but he- he was a weird turtle-thing freak, so _what does he do now that someone knows_? Will he be abandoned? Thrown into the streets? Will-

His thoughts are cut off by tiny giggling.

"So that's what you sound like. Finally, I thought you'd never stop sneaking around and mumbling to yourself." Kendra smirks, crossing her arms. She seemed satisfied with how the reveal presented itself in front of her.

Donnie stares at her with black beady eyes, blinking in surprise.

"... You knew..?" He hesitantly asks, afraid to use his voice again, too used to hiding his ability to communicate verbally.

"Obviously I knew, dumbass! You're not sneaky, like, at all, plus there's like ten cameras in this room alone, all with advanced hypersensitive microphones capable of picking up someone _breathing_. Honestly, I was just waiting for you to just tell me at this point..." She rolls her eyes, before turning to him again, eyeing him up and down. "So... I'm guessing you're some kind of... half-human mutant, seeing as you can speak our language."

"I- I guess? I dunno." He shrugs, fidgeting under the focused gaze, glancing at Kendra's five hazel colored ones and back at his three green stubs, and for once he feels extremely self-conscious of his appearance.

"So, do you go by anything or..?"

"Huh?" He cocks his head, confused, as she huffs and rolls her eyes.

"Your name, dummy. What is it?

"Oh. Uh, actually, I'm not sure... but..." He pulls out a small burnt tag barely the size of his pinky — from where exactly, she doesn't know, the turtle doesn't exactly have pockets — and looks at it a little bit, fondly. "I'm not very good at reading books yet, unlike with learning to speak with my tongue, so it's been taking me a while to decipher this. I'm so close though, I've unlocked three letters, and-"

Before he could finish his little mini exposition, she swipes it away from his hand.

"Hey!" He says, trying to grab it back, but she just twists away as if to keep it away from him, giggling, before putting some distance between the two of them.

" _Blah blah blah_ , you talk too much..." She puppets her words with her free hand, mocking him before turning her attention back to the tag, squinting a little. "... Donatello, huh? Fancy name for an idiot like you."

"I am _not_."

"You totally are. You know, I can just teach you how to read a book if you're so desperate." She shrugs again, flicking the tag towards him, which he quickly trips over himself to catch, acting as though the moment it touches the ground it would evaporate into thin air. Once he catches it, he sighs in relief, before glaring a little at the other who mocked his pitiable illiteracy.

“What?” Kendra asks innocently.

He just rolls his eyes, instead choosing to focus on the tag. Donatello, huh..? He... liked it. It felt... nice, almost. To finally have a name. Something to distinguish him from so many other turtles, and soft shells. Maybe even from other mutants.

Maybe with a name, he... finally has a place here. Somewhere he can finally call home.

 _Donatello_...

A small smile makes it way up to his face as he fondly caresses the tag in his hand, a happy glint in his eyes.

* * *

"Hey Donatello, come here."

The other looks up from his book, confused, and a bit skeptical, but stands from the chair and comes closer anyways.

"Yeah?"

Before he can react she grabs him roughly and turns him around to face her, pushing him backwards until he feels his shell hit the back of the door frame gently.

"Don't. Move." She hisses, and he freezes as she puts a hand on his head rather harshly, causing him to flinch. "I _just_ said don't move! Ugh!! You are like, literally _the worst_ with instructions." She rolls her eyes, before taking her hand off his head and moving to steady him with a strong grip on his shoulder. Getting closer to him, close enough that he can hear the tiny huffs under her breath, her body leaning on his plastron, and he gulps thickly.

The lack of awareness of what exactly was going on, or what he did wrong, caused him to become paranoid, his mind acutely aware of what type of circumstances he was in. Kendra, in all ways, was superior to him in this exact moment, in brains, in strength, in _everything. She was the predator, and he was nothing but prey waiting to be..._

He closes his eyes in acceptance, cowering a little, frozen on the spot.

_His mind races, as they always did, even in his final moments. Her teeth were too dull to bite him, and so were her nails, so maybe she had a weapon? She wasn't heavier than him, she couldn’t constrict him, and she didn’t feel hands around his neck, so she probably wasn’t planning to suffocate him._

_Did it matter?_

_He shouldn't have gotten too comfortable, should've been more cautious, shouldn't have let her trick him into this situation, and now..._

"There we go!" She flashes him a bright toothy smile, backing off, and he can immediately feel the weight shift off his shoulders.

He looks up, confused, as she turns the mutant around to show him what she had worked on; the doorframe was crossed with a brand new purple line as tall as him the same shade as the color marker in the human's hands, standing alongside the red lines running up the frame, with the final one being as tall as Kendra.

He couldn't help but blush a little at the realization of himself leaving a permanent mark on this place.

"It's not like you'll be able to reach me anyway, so I decided to add yours on! Looks cool, right?" She grins at him and he can't help his very own little smile he gives her back.

Maybe Kendra wasn't so bad after all.

"Thank you." He says in a mumble, looking away, a little flustered at being included.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you. Could you speak louder?" She flashed her signature smug grin, putting her face close to his, having to bend down a little to reach face to face with him, her phone pressed against his cheek in the most bothersome way. "Go on, say it again, I wanna make it my ringtone."

His left eye twitched.

Okay, he retracts his previous statement.

Kendra was the _worst_.

* * *

"Soooo, how you liking your new glasses, nerd?" Kendra giggles as she leans on his head, twice as tall as him, as they stand in front of the full-length mirror. He looked extremely flustered, and the human couldn't help the smug grin uptaking her lips.

"Shut up." He growls non-threateningly as he looks away, cheeks red as cherries.

After finally finding out what was wrong with him — he kept bumping into the walls, and Kendra admits it _was_ kinda funny to watch for a while, but it got boring fast, and so she decided to do the freak a favor — and since they couldn’t exactly just go to a ophthalmologist, she had ordered a bunch of glass lenses and frame pairs off the internet until they found the perfect pair. It just so happened the ones that fit perfectly were black blocky squared glasses tapes onto the sides of his head.

"I look stupid." He states, a half sneer on his face.

"You _always_ look stupid. At least you can see now." She shrugged, poking his cheek. "I can take them back if you want and you can keep banging into walls like an idiot again."

"... no."

"Case closed then. Grats' on your nerd glasses, nerd."

"Stop calling me that!"

"When pigs fly, shell boy." She noogied him affectionately, as he flailed wildly in her hold.

* * *

"Hey, Donald. I can call you that, right? It's like, N-B-D, or whatever." Kendra says one summer afternoon.

"What? Ew, no. Who am I, an old man that owns a farm?" He says with an indignant look on his face, as they eat the ice cream she sneaked into their room for him.

Yes, this memory was quite nice, albeit extremely annoying at that moment.

He's grown way taller in the past year, reaching the same height as Kendra was despite their 2 year age gap, which he thinks his human DNA is responsible for, causing him to grow up similar to how a human child would — his basis was the 'Turtle's Life' book he found in the library — as aside from his appearance, his growth was more inclined to his human side.

On the other hand, ever since the human girl had found out he could speak — or at least was very suspicious, and finally had her theory confirmed the past year — his relationship with her had grown from enemies to... complicated. It was more positive than it was before, but the bar wasn't set very high in the first place, the insults leaning more into teasing rather than deliberate jabs at his self-esteem, and he's grown to treat her the same way. He figures it was just her way of showing affection, and he can adapt to something like this with relative ease. She calls them 'frenemies', but the word itself was illogical and just plain dumb, and he refuses to use it.

Today was just one of _those days_.

"Okay... hmmm, well what should I call you then?"

"Donatello, duh."

"Nah, too long, we gotta get you a nickname or something." She says, deep in thought. The turtle mutant sighs and rolls his eyes, turning back to eat the already melting dessert in his hand.

"What about... Tello?"

"No."

"Dee Dee?"

"Definitely not."

"Othello?"

"Oh? That's actually pretty g-"

"Nah, that's too cool of a name for you." His eye twitches, and he regrets even considering her options.

"Nate?"

" _What_..?"

"It's supposed to be like the middle or end of your name. Donatello, Na-te, _Nate_! I read that nicknames like that are quirky and stuff!" She exclaims, her narrowed eyes sparking up a little. "You know like, if your name was Brianna, you could be called Ann, or something."

"That's so cringy." He puts down, as harshly as a kid his age would. Any child who's browsed YouTube’s selection of gamers, immediately knows that once you're called ' _cringy_ ' your reputation is _ruined_. He didn't see a reason to amuse such a stupid interest — she never returned such a favor anyways.

"Is not!"

"So, you'd be okay with me calling you 'En', or something just because it's the middle syllables of your name." He asks in a deadpan, watching her face twist in trepidation.

"Touché. Fine, whatever." She huffs, sticking her nose up, and he smiles knowing he won that round. "Wait, I got it! Di-"

"No!" His eyes widen, as he suddenly shouts, too embarrassed at being called _that_ as a nickname. "What about... er, Donnie..?" He says, more of a question than an actual suggestion if only to keep her satisfied for the time being, as her eyes light up. "That's it! Can't believe I didn't come up with it myself." She scoffs, licking her ice cream again.

After a moment of much-enjoyed silence for the newly nicknamed Donnie, she piques up once more.

"I'm just gonna keep calling you 'idiot' though." She flashes her signature malicious looking toothy grin. "It's more accurate."

"I hate you so much."

"Awww, thanks." She laughs harshly, slinging a hand around his shoulders, and gives him a noogie.

* * *

Donnie, 7 years old — 2 years now in this household — finally meets Mrs. Bradford.

It was... unexpected.

Who knew that the moment he went to get some water from the kitchen, Kendra's mom was visiting.

Well, truthfully, he knew from Kendra herself, but he didn't know she was gonna be there at that very moment, coincidentally grabbing a, er, _drink_ for herself as well. Kendra told him to be more cautious and to stay in the room, and that her mom was... not very good at dealing with stress.

Or seeing giant overgrown mutant turtles walking around in her house.

A cold feeling washes over him, as his eyes meet hers; she was maybe at least twice as tall as him, wearing a long red sundress, and matching heels, one hand stuck frozen in midair right in the process of reaching out for a wine bottle at the very back of the cupboard, the other holding a wine glass.

She drops her glass, as it crashes to the floor with a shrill cracking noise and shatters into pieces. It almost sounded nice, kinda like when Kendra would practice xylophone right next to him, though the pleasant memory didn't really help the rising panic of another human finding out about his existence, nor the fact that he so obviously ignored Kendra's warning, as she stared down at him, shock ingrained into her features.

No other human aside from Kendra and the weird maid — who he was slightly scared of, with her stone-faced glare, and he sometimes wonders _what she has seen_ to make her so immune to seeing random mutants in her employer's house — has seen him before. He didn't know what to do, so he stared back, his beak clamped shut.

"Mom?" He hears the girl’s voice, and turns.

"Oh." The woman mutters under her breath and falls unconscious, right as Kendra enters the room.

...

Kendra is currently fighting a massive migraine clawing its way up to her brain.

She was, to say the least, absolutely _pissed_.

The reason? Well, a _certain_ turtle pet turned mutant friend/sibling(sort of) was really, _really_ getting to her nerves with all his fidgeting.

She had told him so many times before not to go out of their room when she wasn't around to disable cameras and check if anyone was around. It ground on her nerves that he dared to betray her trust and walk around unattended — it led to questions she didn’t want to think about, like how many times has he done this behind her back? —, and it almost always ended with him having to depend on her to get him out of the sticky situation.

All because he wanted a _glass of water._

That would have been fine if it was anyone else, hell, even one of the other maids could have seen it and she could just convince her dad to kick her out easily. No one would believe some random dingwad that the Bradford family is housing some random mutant freak of nature, and people would just stock it up to silly theories and rumors.

But then he just _had_ to go and show himself to her _mother_.

Someone she lived with every day. Who raised her, taught her stuff, played with her. Someone she _cared_ about. So you can see why exactly she was practically seething in her seat, waiting beside her mother passed out on her bed. The culprit of why exactly there was said unconscious woman on the bed, was right beside her, smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

Or at least she thought he was. Well, she definitely overestimated his intelligence this time.

"Hey, Kendra..." Donnie starts, his voice soft and slightly nervous. Ohoho, she absolutely did _not_ want to hear him talking right now. She practically had to hold herself back from pummeling this complete idiot! "Are you mad?"

Was he a chronic nincompoop!? Who wouldn't be mad!?

"I'm _fine_." Was all she replied with, as she silently grits her teeth, clenching the nice white bed sheets with both hands, crumpling it towards herself. She hears him take in a shaky breath as if to argue some more, but she sees a slight movement from the corner of her eyes and grabs him by the nape. "Drop it, she's waking up. Hide!"

She practically pushes his head down and under the bed, accidentally bumping it against the wooden frame, and the only proof of his existence is the distant 'ow' coming from under her.

The black-haired woman stirred, and blinked a few times, confused and disoriented. She rubs at her eyes, looking around a little, before she finally seems to register her daughter.

"Ah... muffin. Did mommy pass out from drinking too much again? Don’t tell anyone, okay?" She asks in that sickly sweet babying voice mothers always had, one that she absolutely hated when directed towards her, although Kendra had more concerns to worry about right now.

She steps back metaphorically, and thinks about the situation for a moment before she can say something she regrets.

Kendra's mother wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to smarts, but with the situation she walked into...

_She had come into the kitchen to see what was taking her mother so long. Dad had some unattended business somewhere that required him to go alone, and so Mom was left behind, so she decided to spend the day with some good old mother-daughter bonding time._

_Only, she hears a sudden shattering of glass, and she races to see what had happened._

_"Mom?"_

_She comes in just in time to see her mother fall to the floor with a resounding thud, Donnie in full view in front of her, not even bothering to hide._

… you'd honestly have to be blind not to see the large bipedal turtle getting a glass of water and mumbling to himself.

"Mom, how are you feeling?" She asks cautiously.

“I’m fine, you’re such a worrywart. I went to the kitchen, and…. I woke up here.” Her face scrunches up a little at the lapse in memory, as if now just realizing that something happened, but she didn’t quite believe what events unfolded. “Actually, I… no, no. That couldn’t possibly have happened.”

"You don't remember seeing the giant turtle?" She whispers under her breath, and the woman only cocks her head, putting a finger near her lips, looking at the other as if she grew an extra head.

"You're being silly again, your imagination is running wild. This reminds me of that time you had that imaginary friend of yours. You always were very creative with that! A _goo monster_ that could turn into a human and would hide when we were around, what a clever fun idea.." She giggles, putting on her airhead persona again and clasping her hands together. “But you know you shouldn’t lie. Haven’t I taught you better than that?”

She must be in denial, which _could_ work in their favor...

"Kendra isn't lying!!"

Donnie yelled in defense, popping out and scaring the crud out of both of them, and Kendra jumped at his sudden insertion, while her mother screeched, then went deadly silent, her eyeballs looking just about ready to fall out of their sockets.

There is a moment of silence, as they all look at each other, too shocked to say anything for various reasons.

Then Kendra hits the other on the head.

"What the hell are you doing!? I told you to hide!! Dumbass! Idiot!!" As Kendra continues to physically and verbally bash the other, Kendra gets so caught up in her anger that for a moment she forgets what type of situation they were in. The gentle reminder chiming in via a shocked gasp stops her in her tracks however, as she turns back to the woman in question.

And then suddenly, the air shifts as they both seem to remember that there was another person in the room.

“It’s…”

Lucy Bradford — Kendra's mother — suddenly shuts her eyes tight, slapping her cheeks with a hard slap, expecting to wake up at any moment. She opens them again, and the green scaly face of the mutant stares back at her, curious about her reactions, next to Kendra who still looks absolutely enraged, but also concerned when she sees her mother starts to fall backwards.

On her second way to dream town, her daughter quickly reaches forwards and grabs her by the shoulders before she can fall onto the pillows.

"Mom, don't pass out again." The girl orders in a matter of factly way, her brown eyes icily staring deep into hers as if trying to gouge out the answer she wants from her, and unwilling to take no for an answer, her hands gripping tighter as she considers her options.

If she runs out in a panic, it’s all over. _Calm her down, don't let her escape before that_.

Her mother nervously gulps, glancing at the overgrown turtle, but Kendra just blocks her view again.

"Don't look at him, look at _me_. Promise you won't freak and pass out again." She says, trying to snuff out the slowly rising panic that was starting to take root again, nipping at the bud before she has a panic attack. The woman gulps, and quickly shakes her head, her lips thinning. Kendra quickly tries to get a handle on the situation through force. "Hear me out, okay?"

"Okay." Lucy breathes out, and stares into her daughter's eyes, pretending that the mutant wasn't right behind her. "Tell me what's going on."

...

"I- I see." She says, sparing Donnie only a side-eyed peek, before quickly looking away. "You know, most household pets don't grow up into talking humanoid aliens." She laughs nervously at her own joke.

"Actually, I'm a mutant, not an alien. Calling me an 'alien' would suggest that I am not from this world, which is not... correct..." Donatello shuts up after Kendra gives him the stink eye — _shut up and stop talking_ , her eyes seemed to viciously hiss at him.

"I guess you're right, turtle man." She sighed, looking like she wanted to be anywhere else right about now. "With how I reacted, the best option would be hiding this from your father. He certainly wouldn't take it well..."

The girl sighs, and leans backward, shifting her weight onto her arms, back arched as she stares up at her ceiling. She looked annoyed, but also… sad..? Donnie watches her pitifully, kind of regretting jumping out to defend her now. But what’s done is done.

"It's not like he's around anyway. He probably forgot I exist at this point."

"Honey, that's not true. Your father is very busy! Taking over Lou Jitsu dojos and being an actor, and also managing his own dojos is very hard work after all!" She says, patting her daughter's hair, and Donnie wonders for a moment how it must feel to recieve that kind of parental affection.

And then instantly, he is all too aware that this was turning into a critical family bonding moment, and he feels extremely out of place.

"Yeah, maybe I'll believe him if he says that to my face." She says somberly.

" _Kendra_."

"Ugh, whatever. So uh... you're okay... with the whole mutant turtle thing right? You won't... like... tell the government or whatever. Give Donnie off to some scientists with white lab coats and have them experiment on him?"

Said turtle was glancing at her nervously, fidgeting with the bedsheets. He hoped that wouldn’t happen, but if it does...

"Honey, the day I willingly let cops into our home, is the day I die. And he has... a name? Okay well, um..." She takes a deep breath, patting her head. "Mommy needs some time to process this, okay?"

Kendra seems to ponder for a moment, before slowly nodding, backing away a little, letting Lucy through. "Don't tell anyone else. Pinky promise?" She asks, holding out her pinky finger up to her mom. The other nods with a small smile and ties it with her own, before sliding off the bed and out the door, holding a hand to her head as she turns back at them one last time, before exiting.

Donnie watched as the tall woman exitted, and he immediately turns back to Kendra, who was fuming.

"Uhm... so... is everything gonna be okay? With you and your mom, I mean." He asks in a hushed whisper, fiddling with the bed cloth nervously.

"Oh, I don't know, _Donatello_ , you almost scared my mom to death, when I specifically ordered you to NOT LEAVE THE ROOM WHEN SHE WAS AROUND! And just when I thought we had an easy way out, you just _had_ to pop out and scare her, didn't you!?" She suddenly exclaimed, throwing her hands up as he flinches hard at the sudden outburst.

"... so the answer is no."

" _Ugh-_ I don’t know, okay? She won’t tell anyone, but with your street record, you might ‘stumble’ into my dad next, and he’s not exactly accepting with change." She huffs, and he looks down in shame. They stayed in silence for a long while, the only sounds in the cold room the slow breaths interchanging between the two kids, as the air hung thick above them, the atmosphere tense and rigid.

"I'm sorry..." He mutters again, softly.

It wasn't a lie. Donatello has never felt more sorry in his life. But it didn't quite feel like a truth either. He's always wanted to get back at her, and every time he pranked her, it just didn't seem to hurt her as much as her 'jokes' hurt him. Not that he was planning to actually stumble upon Kendra's mom. Nope, that part was completely accidental.

This situation though seemed to genuinely distress her, and you'd think he'd finally be satisfied, right? But honestly, it only left a sour taste in his mouth and a rotten twist in his stomach.

"Whatever. Whatever! If you get found out you're the only one who's in actual danger!!" She hissed out, but rather than hatred like he expected, she looked rather conflicted and scared (for Donnie? _No way_... but there wasn't any other explanation...) rather than angry. "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta make sure my mom doesn't guzzle down a barrel of wine while I’m not looking.”

Donnie watches her leave out of the door, and he stares at his feet guiltily, unable to say a single word.

* * *

It's been a few days since his identity has been exposed to someone besides Kendra and the suspiciously calm maid, and he can't help the feeling of anxiety that ripples through him every time he enters a new room despite checking cameras like five times beforehand.

The situation has never felt so... tense before.

It's not even that he was worried about his own safety, he... he was worried about how she thought of him.

Did she hate him now?

He didn't want to admit this but he cared about what Kendra thought of him immensely. So much so that sometimes he couldn't think of anything else but what she said that one time, or what she did, and how to get back at her. It was their thing. But this... this was _new_ . She wasn't purposefully trying to get him to feel guilty and apologize to him. She was _ignoring_ him.

He hated the cold shoulder she gave him, and he hated how _mad_ she was, and he just _hated everything_ right now _._ The worst part was, this time it was a _real_ type of anger, and she had every right to feel that way.

He feels scared, confused, regretful, but most of all, he felt guilty.

There is no way around this situation but through. And that itself was already extremely hard for him to comprehend. He didn't know what to do, and it wasn't like he wasn't willing to apologize, it was that she wasn't willing to listen.

He's just so tired.

He knows he screwed up, but he doesn't know how to make it up to her. Without her, he realized how lonely his life was before. Only ever watching, keeping to himself, mouth clamped shut that some days he himself would forget he can talk. Kendra was like a (extremely talkative and rude) breath of fresh air.

He doesn't think he can go back to that kind of spectator lifestyle, after experiencing such freedom like this. Being able to express his thoughts and feelings openly. It felt so liberating. And talking to and spending time with her... despite being filled with joshing and insults, was... fun.

And the thought of her never talking to him ever again scares him more than anything else.

...

As he walks down the hallways, pondering his next move, he stops right outside a door halfway open, Kendra's slightly squeaky voice coming from inside.

"Come on, just come with me. _Get up._ "

There is groaning, and then heavy grunting, and it piques Donnie's interest, as she turns back, eavesdropping.

He knows he should probably just go back to their room, and hide out there.

But his curiosity gets the better of him, and he peeks in, coming face to face with a green-looking Lucy barely being held up by a smaller shaking Kendra. Trying to test out his rusty stealth skills, he stays stiff as a cardboard, trying to blend into his surroundings, which now that he thinks about it, is a dumb decision, considering his dark green colors weren't exactly good camouflage against the white striped wallpaper.

Not even to a drunk person, and he realizes this too late, when his eyes accidentally meet hers.

"Oh! It's the turtle man!! Hiiii, Kappa man!!!" She giggled, an accent that he didn't know existed coming in thickly. Kendra on the other hand, didn't seem too pleased that he had intruded into the seemingly personal affair, and shot him a glare that sent shivers down his spine, as he instinctively backed away.

"I- I- sorry, I'll just go-" He says, easily intimidated, and was just about to turn tail and run, when the girl's cold voice cut through him like an arrow.

"No, get back here. Help me with this."

 _Take responsibility_.

He nods, and walks over, a little scared, as he takes the other arm and slings it across his shoulders.

The walk back to the room was tense, and mostly quiet, accompanied solely by heavy labored breathing as the children dragged the heavy adult back to her room. After a few painstaking minutes making sure no one else was around, before laying her on the bed with a loud thud, her muffled groaning filling the room. With nothing else to do, Donnie wonders if he should apologize again, now?

Heavy silence hung above their heads, just sitting on the bed side by side next to an unconscious Lucy, Kendra speaks up first.

"Mom always gets like this when everything becomes too much." She sighed pulling her knees closer to her chest. "When she heard that dad cheated on her, she drank for five days, even if she eventually forgave him. I think her record was near a month. I literally have no idea how she's still alive at this point."

She seemed so sullen, and Donnie knows it's all his fault, but he doesn't know what to do, nor say, so he just stares at the carpeted floor, his eyes taking in every detail to keep itself busy, how every strand of fur stood up with a shiny coat of white, looking extremely soft and nice. At the same time, he wonders what poor unlucky creature was killed to make such fine fabrics, but it makes him feel worse, so he goes back to thinking of apologizing.

Just do it.

What else was he supposed to do?

"I'm sorry." He says again in a hushed whisper, but heard very clearly through the thick hush over the room.

“Ugh. That again. You’re bad at lying, Donnie, can you just not?” Her face contorted into more of a scowl now, her eyes narrowing and glaring at him. “I hate it, okay?”

“Wha-? I’m not lying… I really am sorry.” He says, looking at her anxiously, confused.

He didn’t know what she meant, he just wanted to the tension to stop, he wanted things to go back like how they were before he exposed himself.

When she didn’t _hate_ him.

“Stop it! I know you’re lying, why else would you go and just straight up ignore my warnings about being seen unless you were _hoping_ to get caught and get us in trouble!? It was nice having your revenge right? Did it feel nice, Donatello? Was your revenge worth risking your stupid life just to get back at me?” Her eyes were burning now, as she bared her teeth at him, her hands clenching the bed sheets as she barked at him, hounding him for a confession.

He feels familiar tears claw their way up and form at the corners of his eyes, as he sniffled, his throat growing tighter.

“N-no, it- it didn’t- I’m sorry-” He hiccuped, rubbing at them, his tiny form trembling. “I just- I wanted to get a glass of water- and she was there- and- and I know I did a naughty thing- just- I don’t want you to hate me but I deserve it and I hate it- I don’t like it- I never wanted you to get that mad- I didn’t plan it but it just happened so quickly- and-”

Donnie became a mess of snot and tears as he barely contained himself, sobbing profusely and roughly wiping his wet eyes, only for more to replace it.

“Please don’t hate me- please talk to me- I’m sorry I’m so _selfish- I don’t want you to hate me- I’m sorry-_ ” At this, he blinks at the warmth that suddenly surrounded him. She had hugged him, wrapped her arms around him and put her chin on his shoulder.

“I don’t hate you, dummy.” She admitted in a whisper.

“You don’t..?” He asks, looking up at her with innocent baby doe eyes, as she pulled away, pouting, as if offended that he had even thought she did. 

“Of course not! I- I was just w-... its like- I wouldn’t have someone to tease if you went away cuz’ you thought I hated you right! Right!?”

“R-right..!” He nodded, more to appease her, not really understanding her logic.

As they both (arguably) made up, the woman mumbles in her sleep, a huge smile on her face as drool fell from her lipos. “Make up..” She giggled under her breath, sleeping through the loud conversation with a snore that rivalled their noise.

* * *

"Whatcha lookin' at?" He flinches hard at the sudden intrusion of his personal space, as Kendra slumps from behind him onto his shell, resting her chin on his shoulder and staring down at the contents of the book. "Oh? An astrology book?"

"Augh, if you could kindly get- off!" He shrugs her off, literally as she yelps, as Donnie smirks, listening to her fall with a satisfying thud. "I could have told you myself." He continues with a smug expression, as she sends him an annoyed grimace.

"You're such a jerk." She mumbled, getting back up and pinching his cheeks with enough force to make him wince, as he pushed her off again.

"Stop it." He rolled his eyes before he felt her nestling to the cushions next to him. "Aren't they really cool?" He asks, showing her. The current stage he was on featured a double-page illustration of the night sky, with constellations littered across the black sky, and white boxes surrounding them to identify them with fun facts for the kid readers at the sides. Surprisingly, Kendra just rolled her eyes and gave him a thumbs down, sticking her tongue out a little.

"They're meh. It gets boring after a while." Kendra mumbles. "It's just a buncha' lights? They don't change either, so I don't really see the appeal. Stuff that doesn't change or advance is kinda useless, don't you think?"

"Wait, Kendra, you've seen them before?" He asks dumbly.

"Well, yeah, duh, they're in the sky, all around us. They just don't appear at night cuz' the sun blocks them and whatever."

"They're _ABOVE_ US?" His voice cracked, as his eyes went wide. His expression could only be described as full-on shock and disbelief. "No. No, you're lying. You always lie. No way it was right above me this whole time, and I just have never seen it before."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Donnie, I'm not lying! Why would I lie about thi-"

"Lalalalala! I can't hear youuuu!!" He shakes his head and puts hands to his ears, continuing to drown out her voice.

"Don- Don!!" She grabbed his wrists, but he only jerked away and continued refusing to listen to her, closing his eyes as well, still obnoxiously singing like a stray cat. "Fine be that way! I don't care if you don't believe me!! You're a complete idiot anyway, why do I bother!?" She hissed, before leaving a fuming Donatello in the room, just as angry as him.

They kept glaring and refusing to talk to each other for the rest of the day.

* * *

It was a relatively peaceful night, nothing too different from all the days before.

"Psst. Don. Wake up."

"Huh? Wha- Kendra its-..." He checks the alarm clock. "Two in the morning- wha-"

She puts a finger up to her lips and quietly lets out a quiet ' _sssshhhh_ '.

Donnie finds himself slowly waking up more and more as they traversed the hallways, Kendra temporarily deactivating the security cameras as they pass through. Surprisingly, the girl says nothing, not even to flaunt her genius on how she so easily hacks into the camera feed, even if the turtle already knew how by the fifty other times she had told him.

Maybe it was because of the time, or maybe it was something else.

The mutant didn't quite get what was going on yet. He had slowly sobered as they walked, and had become increasingly more aware of how clueless he was.

Turning a corner, they ascended the stairs, the turtle couldn't help but be nervous. Where were they going? Was Kendra finally gonna get rid of him like she always threatened she would? Probably not, but... he still couldn't help but worry about all the possibilities.

They stop at the top of the stairwell, right in front of a dingy looking door, the metal rusting in the corners. She squats in front of the metal guard near the bottom right secured with a padlock and started working on getting it loose with her hair clip on hand.

His eyes widen when he realizes that she was lockpicking the door to the rooftop.

"Kendra this is _wrong_!" He gasps, as she turns to him, her hair getting thrown across her shoulder with the sudden rotation, a confused, but annoyed and slightly betrayed glare crossing her features.

"What are you talking about?"

"This- you know, _breaking and entering_!?" Donnie motioned to her crouched position.

"This is our place. What the actual hell are you talking about?" She deadpanned, sparing him an incredulous quizzical look as if wondering how much of an _idiot_ he really was.

"Oh. Oh, yeah. Right, I forgot." Someone knowing how to lock pick usually hinted at some sort of situation in the past where they needed said skill. Usually for breaking the metaphorical law by breaking the physical lock.

"Jeez, you think I'm some sort of criminal master! I just come here to practice doing lock picks and stuff up here or just to chill and get a breather. You better not tell anybody else, dummy."

He nods with tired eyes, more out of not wanting to fight in the literal ungodly hours of the morning than anything. He sits down on the ground opposite to her and lays his head onto the concrete.

They stayed in silence as she slowly worked her way through the lock.

"Hey, fun fact about this place, they have extremely high tech stuff built at the bottom, right? But no one bothered to renovate and replace this really shitty door this whole time, cuz' no one thought there would be any aerial attacks against the building. I swear when I take over this company, I'm gonna buff up security!"

"Mmm, that sounds nice." He said, halfway into drifting off into sleep. "Why are we here again..?"

"Trust me, you'll flip once I get this thing open." With a click, she finally managed to unlock it, and she unscrews it and places it onto the ground next to her, before opening the metal bar with a loud creak, unphased by the loud noise that made Donnie jump, his eyes snapping open. She smirked and glanced at him, standing and patting dust off her lap. "Ladies first."

The moment she pushes the door and he steps forwards, rubbing the sleepiness off his eyes. His eyes snap upwards, dumbstruck.

There it was.

_Stars._

They sparkled brightly across the jet black space, so clear and bright, dotting the sky like white ink drops on dark navy blue paper.

 _She wasn't lying_ , a stray thought whispered at the back of his head, as he stood there, completely — pun not intended — _starstruck_.

"Kendra... I-"

"I _told you_." And although he couldn't see her expression, his eyes glued to the sky, he could tell from her tone that she had a smug expression on her face. "Come on, sit with me."

Donnie tears his eyes away for just a moment to look at her. She had already set up a blanket near the edge of the tall netted wall and was already seated, as she looked at him with... something he wasn't quite sure what exactly, patting the ground next to her.

He does so and continues to stare up.

He can connect the constellations he's seen in the book from here.

His tired eyes slowly trail downwards, and he breathes the cold air in, closing his eyes only for a moment, but that was all it took for the fatigue to catch up to him. He accidentally lays his head on Kendra's shoulder, but instead of being pushed off like he was expecting, she puts an arm around his shoulders and pulls him closer.

A warmth spreads through his chest, and he can't help but illogically wish that this time would stop at those way too few blissful minutes of the stars hanging on their heads, and they were alone in the world.

* * *

"Wow, this is what our house looks like?" He asks in awe as he watches the footage presented on the screen.

It looked like a castle, with white clean bricks fitted to be perfectly symmetrical and its gorgeous almost glass like shiny tiled roofs. The outside was filled with a lush garden, probably being handled with care by the dozens of maids in the house, filled with all sorts of different flowers adorning and complimenting the clean kept home.

"Yep! Impressed?" Kendra asks, and he nods, a big smile on his face. It makes Kendra look proud of her skills, as she moves the drone she was controlling once more to show the other. She had gotten the latest tech with flight capabilities; with a huge distance coverage, strong signals, and a high 1k resolution that made Donnie want to pry that baby open and watch how they made it. Of course, Kendra didn't allow it, but she did offer to give him the prototype blueprints if he begged hard enough — which was annoying, but for the sake of science, he would do almost anything.

He had never actually seen the exterior of the place, only snippets of it from memories so long ago. Blame a turtle for not remembering every small detail of his past, why don’t you.

"Wanna see the back too?"

"Heck yeah!!" He says excitedly, rocking back and forth in his seat in anticipation, eyes going wider as she showcased the sleek design, and lush pool, currently unoccupied, a few maids cleaning and scrubbing the place around. And suddenly, they all jolted, turning to a direction, with various expressions of shock and horror, as they all started running around.

"Hey. Wait, Kendra what's... that?"

He pointed at the burning wreck thrown in the middle of the road over ways down the street, a truck... and the very familiar red car of Kendra's mother, stuck in mid-collision in each other.

...

When Kendra first saw it with her own two eyes, she couldn't quite believe it.

It just felt... unreal.

Just an hour ago, she had chastised her mother for taking another swig of her flask that she had hidden under her dress and putting a finger to her lips.

_"You worry too much!" Lucy waved her daughter off with a hand, as she grabbed her coffee and poured every last drop of alcohol left into it, before hiding it back into the dress, taking the keys and coffee._

_"And you don't worry at all!" Kendra huffed, crossing her arms and giving her a judgmental stare down._

_"Jeez,_ mom _. It's just a quick drive to buy your father a present! It's almost our anniversary, and since he forgot the_ last _two years, I wanted to surprise him early so that he can get his gift to me on time. Genius, I know."_

_"Mom if there's anyone I got my intelligence from it's definitely not you." She spat, grabbing her drone and sticking the batteries in, before screwing it shut, as she let the woman pull her in momentarily and kiss her forehead with some grunting._

_"You're so strict, Keke!" She pouted, grabbing her keys and heading to the door already._

_"Don't call me that old nickname! Ugh, whatever!! Don't blame me if you get into an accident because of this!!" She spar angrily, stomping off to retreat to her room without another word to practice with her drone, ignoring the proclamations of love and a sweet goodbye from her mother._

And now she stood in her room, frozen, watching the screen as they pulled her out and covered her with a body bag.

No.

No, there must be a mistake somewhere. This- this must be a dream, right? Just a nightmare...

 _Right_?

Her mom can't be dead. No. No no no _no no—_

She feels Donnie grab her hand, asking if everything's alright, and suddenly everything feels _too real_ , as if the illusions and possibility of this just being a horrible nightmare _disappeared,_ and she pulled away from the arm around his wrist in panic, and _ran._

_She ran, and ran, and never looked back._

* * *

Donnie notices. He always does.

Ever since the funeral happened — Kendra's mom's passing, one which he wasn't allowed to attend —, something changed within the girl.

That, or puberty. It was 50/50, really.

She became... more aggressive. A higher tendency to want to be alone. Simple teasing turned into full-blown insults, which turned into a full-on verbal assault to anyone who tried to talk with her, even him. I mean, he understood her treating the maids like that, they were lesser than her after all — or at least that's what she told him, and what her father told her as well, so it must be true(?).

She had a superior intellect, putting her above most kids her age, possibly even above most adults with her ingenuity in technology, in all aspects of it, and she loved to hold it above Donnie as much as she possibly could.

Despite being put down like this, and constantly being insulted, the mutant turtle has found that he really liked joining her when she flaunts her technological ingeniousness. He liked studying the code she'd write, how such a long messy strain of words and collections of pictures could make the screen dance with color, or the tiny robots she'd make, analyzing them, comparing them to the blueprints, and every so often suggests a tiny insignificant difference, such as battery power or the placement of the gears. The change wasn't major most of the time, so Kendra took them without her pride getting hurt. And most of the time, Donnie got to see his little suggestion improve the design, and it made him happy, even if the other never could or would credit him, but she did lessen her teasing when he did so, or give him a candy.

She wasn't exactly... the best at emotions. Then again, neither was he.

They never really talk about it anyway, he figured it was just something that everyone went through.

He lost his... well, he wasn't sure what to call the other turtles really in relation to him, but he did feel safe around them, he could still remember how they smelled like, how their cries sounded, whether hungry or just a sleepy one. Remembers how he would cuddle up to the biggest one — the snapping turtle —, and the rest of the smaller ones would follow his example, all of them ending up in a huddle in the corner, all warm and cozy.

He hasn't quite figured out what their relationship was. Perhaps it was a mutually beneficial one for all parties, but it wasn't exactly that either, since Kendra was the one providing food and shelter, asking little in exchange besides his company. They were more like... roommates..?

Besides the point, he lost others who he cared for as well, so...

He's tried to be nicer, didn't tease her about it, but she never talked to him much anymore if not to gloat about her new inventions or to viciously insult his intellect. And it did kinda hurt him a little. He missed when they could just talk casually without it devolving and spiraling out of control and without worrying about the other throwing a tantrum. and he missed just... hanging out with her, without feeling the weight of the intensity of the air crushing his shell.

* * *

He was ten years old when he heard Kendra cry for the first time.

It was very... odd, to say the least. Having never heard the other make such a sound before, he was quite sure it was some sort of animal that had somehow wormed its way into their bathroom and had found itself locked in, a quite shrill, but pitiable sound echoing around their room. He steps closer, leaning against the door and placing his head against the hardwood.

Then it started to sound like actual words, albeit slurred and scratchy. She seemed to be... apologizing..? Was there someone in there with her, or maybe she was on the phone?

The... sounds were... familiar though.

"Kendra, are you crying?" He asks, and the sniffling abruptly stops.

"Donnie? N-no! No, I... I- I'm not. Shut up." She says, and her voice sounds weak and gravelly, a nasally echo to it, as she sniffs again. "Go away. I don't wanna play right now."

"... I know." He says, and pulls out his phone, typing into it.

The door unlocks with a click, and he enters. She's crouched in the corner next to the sink, hugging her knees, extremely red in the face, as she stares up back at him with puffy tired eyes, fully expecting him to have figured out a way to open the door.

"I don't wanna talk about it." She says silently, as her hands shake around the family picture held in between her fingers.

"I know." He says, walking towards her slowly.

"Go away." She says, scrunching up the photo into a balled fist, and stares at him with such ferocity that would normally scare him into leaving... but he knows the moment he leaves, there won't be anyone who will stay by her side... that the moment he leaves, she'll be _alone_.

And Donnie himself knows how hard it is to be alone.

"No." He says, and it strengthens his resolve, as he takes another step forward.

"Donnie, you fucking IDIOT, I said GO. AWAY! LEAVE YOU ASSHOLE!!!" She screams, and Donnie knows that if he left right now, he could avoid it. Could avoid what he knows is coming soon, if he keeps going.

"No."

But he doesn't.

Donatello wasn't good at social cues, admittedly. But he was _anything_ but an idiot.

And as he sits next to Kendra, who is screaming, and crying, and slapping, clawing at his arm, he only stays silent and takes it. Sits, and waits, as he always did, until she finally grows quiet, only the shaky breathing, and sniffling occupying the thick muted atmosphere, as she pulls him into a tight hug, sniffling and sobbing into his red warm arm she had caused so much pain to earlier.

Yeah, maybe their relationship wasn't perfect. 

But it didn't matter much to Donnie.

Kendra needed him.

And he needed her back, twice as much.

...

"I saw him... at the funeral." She says, her voice scratchy and sore. The tears were long gone, instead remained the remnants of it, snot piling in her nose as she sniffed again, looking tired and worn from the cry fest.

"He didn't even seem sad to be there. He just looked annoyed, you know? As if he was just there to be there. As if the whole thing didn't matter to him in the long run. It just pissed me off so much! Mom... mom loved him so much, and... and he didn't even care about her at all." She ranted, as he silently listened to her. The topic was deep, heavy, and extremely personal, something a ten-year-old wasn't exactly equipped or prepared to handle, but he still does so.

"And if his love for mom was fake, what else was fake? How much of my life is a lie fabricated by my dad? was his love for me a lie, too?".She seemed to ask the question to the air in general, instead of being directed at the mutant. He... wasn't sure what to say either way. He wasn't necessarily what one would call 'emotionally intelligent', as much as he hated to admit that he was lacking in any sort of field, it was very valid.

Donatello still answers, though.

"I don't think all of it was a lie. Kinda like how actors like Dad prepare for a scene that they gotta shoot. They can't be that good at pretending to be someone else, and feel absolutely nothing right? He probably loves you a lot, and... and maybe that, along with his work, didn't leave much room for Mom." He spitballs, unsure of what sort of territory he was walking into, but by the way Kendra nods a little, he must've done something right.

"I guess that makes sense..." She mumbles, speech starting to sound slurred from weariness. "Mom deserved better, though. I never got to say I love her. Never heard

"She probably knew already. The genius runs in the family after all." He says, and she snorts a little, a small hitter smile on her face. "And you're right. She deserved better than Dad."

"You do know he's not _your_ dad, dummy, he's mine." Her face scrunches up a little, before falling flat again as she sighs. "Though it doesn't seem like that way anymore. Not for a long time."

"Oh.” Truthfully, he was unsure of what to say to that. The Mom ordeal was already tiring as it was, he wasn't sure he was ready to unpack her loaded cabinet of daddy issues. “I thought his name was 'Dad'.”

Unexpectedly, she broke out laughing, and it instantly makes him feel a short burst of relief. "You're an idiot."

"I guess I am." He said placidly, with a mirroring smile, letting the silence consume them, as she clings tightly onto his arm, her head resting on his shoulders. Her hair tickles a little, but he doesn't mind, feeling the heat radiating off her, and the cold air shifting to his right and hearing her sniffles slowly turn into soft breaths, as she falls asleep on his arm.

* * *

**PLAN CUK: CHEER UP KENDRA**

by: Donatello

MOVIE NIGHT

  1. Movies



\- sappy rom coms with a happy ending, (favorite: Enchanted. Make sure to play that first.)

\- Action/Thriller is a good mix up for when she gets bored.

\- AVOID HORROR GENRE. She is easily spooked, and I do not want to spend another night trapped in her massive comforter blanket being hugged by a sweaty Kendra.

  1. Comfort Food



\- ice cream

\- junk food

\- mountain dew (at least two 1-liter bottles)

\- spicy packed seaweed

\- popcorn(?? Heat corn in the oven?)

  1. Fun Activities



\- Twister

\- Chess

\- Monopoly

\- UNO

\- Jenga

\- sleep

\- multiplayer games

  1. Music to set the mood in said games



\- hip hop

\- dubstep

\- trap remix

  1. Have fun! :D



* * *

"Are... you wearing make-up?"

The girl flinches so hard that the red lipstick smears across her bottom lip to her right cheekbone.

Kendra, at the cusp of being a teen at the sweet sweet age of 13, awkwardly trying to apply make-up was... _hilarious_ , especially to an 11-year old Donatello, who catches her right in the act, red-handed.

Or rather, _red-faced_.

Before she can react, he's pulled out and taken a picture with his smartphone, with a huge shit-eating grin on his face. "You look like a clown!" He bursts out laughing, his breath coming out in short bursts of wheezing.

A blush races up to her face, her cheeks burning bright red, almost as red as her lipstick.

"GET OUT!!" She shouts, and he laughs as he narrowly dodges the products being thrown at his face.

"This is gonna be frickin' good blackmail material later." He says, surveying the photos of Kendra's shocked face, all the way to the angry one, caught in a completely rage-filled expression.

* * *

“What did you say again about me never being able to pass you?” He teased, as he motioned to the red line far above the purple one. Kendra huffs, facing off against the now remarkably tall Donatello, blocky glasses replaced with contact lenses, and a snug fitted jacket Kendra gifted him one day (“Why do you wear clothes?” She had asked. He only shrugged, telling her it felt nice against his scales, feeling warm in them), looking way more human than turtle, and Kendra can’t really imagine that she had ever thought of him as anything else before.

Despite that, she didn’t expect him to _actually_ get that tall, especially since she very helpfully reminded him time and time again of his unfortunate height situation.

“You’re just lucky, you hit your growth spurt before me!” She stomped, huffing, even as he leaned an arm on her head, which she helplessly tried to get off.

“That is, if you even have one coming…” He snidely remarked to the side with a shit-eating grin that he no doubt got from Kendra, slowly refined over the years to appear just as smug and intimidating to match hers.

She tackled him into a choke hold with a growl, as he struggled to get out, choking on his spit, and wheezing.

* * *

Kendra, 14, confronts 12-year-old Donnie one day, sitting inside her re-purposed closet/trophy room, with computers installed and everything, now his pseudo bedroom/shared computer room. After years of watching her invent stuff and write code, he had wanted to join in and learn her ways, and eventually (dare she say) _almost_ as good as her now. Which was why...

"Hey, Don, you wanna join my tech club?"

"Huh? What's a tech club?" He asks, not looking up from his phone

"A club, at school, duh, Don. You're slow on the uptake today." She rolled her eyes..

"I don't even go to school, Kendra." It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

"You do now!"

" _What_ . Excuse me, explain how, why, _what!?_ "

She beckoned him over, showing him the name lists of their school. _His_ name was precariously put into the list of the male students, with the same last name as Kendra's, with his profile pic being anonymous.

"I signed your name up! Dad won't know, he's too busy these days, so I forged dad's signature and added your name to the student files! Though I did sorta lie about your age to get you in the same curriculum as me, but still. As far as they know, you're a bonafide student, with a few... health conditions, which keeps you stuck at home. It's the reason why no one's heard of you! First one is a really super rare skin condition that gets you rashes if you get exposed to sunlight, so you can only video call lessons from home, or I can bring your studies for you and teach you, and bring your homework there. So, technically, yeah, you _can_ join my tech club."

"All this for a tech club..?"

"All this for _you. And also maybe because we need four members to make a club and no one wanted to join..._ " She mumbled the last part. "Be grateful, you dolt, you're officially a legal 'student' now. I'm surprised you're not bouncing in your seat. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go take care of that stupid meeting my dad's new fiancé."

"Wait, that was today?"

Right. After only a few years Kristoff Van Bradford had immediately gotten a new partner and was planning to remarry after only a few months of dating, and along with her was a teen her age as well, a new half-brother. Donnie hadn’t actually seen the new additions to the family, but based on Kendra’s interactions with them so far, as told via the latter, they weren’t exactly… the best to get along with. At least not to her. And if they didn’t feel right being in the Bradford family to Kendra, Donnie concluded that he probably wouldn’t like them either.

"Yeah, I've been preparing for it for like ten days now? I plan to embarrass the hell out of both of them later." She grinned cheshirely, making Donnie snort, a little as he waved her goodbye.

"Oh, and Donnie?"

"Yeah?"

"There's a bottle of water in your room. Try not to show yourself this time, okay?" She says with a deadpan expression, before shutting the door.

It takes him a hot second to realize what she meant, and immediately became flushed at the blatant call back to last time this happened, hiding his face in his hands as he imagines Kendra's stupid smug face, laughing at his late realization. Ugh.

He glances at the computer again.

Donatello Bradford. First year student. Soon-to-be-Valedictorian.

Doesn't have a bad ring to it.

* * *

"Don, meet Jeremy, he's the other member I was talking about. Jeremy, this is Donatello."

Donnie glanced at the other human, sweat starting to form around his neck, at the situation he found himself in. Huh? Did Kendra hit her head today? Why the _hell_ did she reveal his identity to another person?

"Nice to meet you! Donatello, right? I heard lots of good things about you!" He says, holding out his hand. He looks him up and down, confused. He was a pretty chubby dude, shorter than him, but definitely beefier, with their signature purple dragons jacket pulled over his shoulders, and a pair of yellow sunglasses propped up on dark blonde dyed hair.

"Oh." He mutters, a little hesitant, unsure of what to do with the held out limb, pulling his hands. Jeremy on the other hand takes it without hesitations grabbing the other's three-finger hands with his and shaking them politely.

"Something wrong?"

"I thought you'd be more... freaked out, I guess?" Donnie shrugs, motioning to his appearance.

"Nah man. It's like, really no big deal right? Your real worth is here." He taps the mind, winking. "I really can't understand why people judge others for their appearances and get butthurt when they're called out for it. It's totally wack, don't you think, Dee'?"

" _Dee_?" He asks incredulously. Just who is this random human!?

His reaction was different from the maid who just shrugged him off as a common occurrence, Jeremy just treated him like... like he was normal. But... that just...

With all the things he's excepted, this certainly wasn't one.

"Oh, sorry, it's just- I thought it'd be cool to give ya' a nickname since we're gonna be workin' with each other from now on, right?" He explained quickly, not wanting to offend the other. "But it’s totally cool if you don't want to!"

Donnie pondered this for a moment.

"And I can call you J' or something, right?" He asks. It seemed like a reasonable proposal, after all. A name for a name.

"If that's what you want, sure?" He asks with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head. "Look, Donatello, it's cool if you wanna keep things formal between us, you don't have to humor me."

"No, it's cool. I mean, I guess you can call me that..." He says, a little embarrassed.

"Will you two ladies finish up your gossiping already, we got a lot of work to do here people!" Kendra interrupts their quickly growing awkward conversation, beckoning Jeremy over to her. "Jeremy, over here, the tour isn't done yet."

Donnie watches him walk off.

Jeremy, huh.

He wasn't bad.

...

Meeting the fourth member was more or less... stupid.

Compared to meeting Jeremy which went rather smoothly, it was practically a disaster.

He'd heard that Kendra had a new step-brother and was forced by her step-mom to let him in the new tech club she formed, and he knew from how much Kendra loved to rant about this guy, that he was probably annoying, but he didn't know he'd actually be this...

Pathetic.

When he met him, the boy froze, kinda like a deer in the headlights. Which was understandable, since he towered over him in height, and was a green scaled mutant, the likes of which no one in the world has really seen before aside from sci-fi and space movies and shows. The next couple of minutes though, was kinda confusing for him.

First, the scrawny kid panicked, then he passed out. When he woke up 10 seconds later with Donnie crouching over him, and checking him over, he freaked out again, ran to the corner of the room, and began sobbing, begging him not to take his soul.

"Excuse you, I am _not_ a demon." He corrected, but the other didn't seem to be listening.

"Oh, I see you met Jason." Kendra addressed Donatello as she entered the room

"I knew your dad was shit at making decisions, but damn." He said, snorting, a little amused.

"Y-you know this freak, Kendra?"

Oh, he immediately did _not_ like him.

"Hey!" She barked, and he immediately reeled back. "He's not a freak. If you say anything otherwise, I'll gut you like the squealing pig you are, got that!?" He nodded and cowered in terror.

Donnie smirked. Having Kendra on his side of the ring did have its perks after all.

* * *

“So are you in, or not? It’s just a simple question, Don. It’s either yes, or no.”

Donnie pondered it for a moment. This felt wrong.

Being in a tech club usually meant… well, he didn’t know actually, but it certainly did not mean stealing data and tech from high end companies to advance your own though. Nor did it mean planning to hack said company’s computer database, and use this to blackmail them into transferring a huge amount of money into their dud account.

Even if it was a well-intentioned robin-hood esque type of situation.

Kendra had found out that said company outsourced some funds into this illegal trade concerning drug trafficking, instead of, you know, donating them to charity like they had said they would.

It was _really_ cleanly covered up, and barely anyone else knew about it.

As Kendra said, he quotes: ‘Let’s steal their shit!’.

Which ends in him with this conundrum. He’d practically been rolling around his bed thinking about it for nights on end, and now it was the time to decide.

“So?”

After taking a deep breath, he makes his decision.

...

“Ready?” He says, tapping his fingers together nervously, as she watched her watch the surroundings and give him a thumbs up.

“Ready.” She nods to the camera, before she starts to run across, looking around wildly, before kneeling in front of the back entrance, trying the lock, before pulling out the hair clip stuck neatly into the back of her ear, making quick work of the obstacle, and he can vaguely make out the mutters of amazement from their other teammates as she passed the well lit parking lot with not much fuzz.

“I can’t believe these guys still use outdated locks. Goes to show how lazy and stingy people get with this stuff.” Kendra huffed into her microphone coiled around her ear, making sure not to make any noise.

He squinted a little against the hard beam of white flashing onto the screen, focused on checking the different cameras for any nearby guards. He’d already hacked the inside to loop the feed, currently occupying the actual real time screen on his monitors.

The parking lot was mostly barren, but very well kept, considering they _were_ a well-known company; lamp posts clean and shiny, with tall lights shining brightly down onto the empty red lines meant to host cars. He supposed they had to keep up appearances for the very very rich people coming and going to make meetings and deal with them in the upper floors. A few guards walked around in patrol, as sleepy as he was presumably (it was _3 am_ after all), and so weren’t exactly at their best game, which they took full advantage of.

Jeez, what was the point of him being part of the club, when he couldn’t even do field work.

 _“It's better this way!” Kendra had said, as they prepared for the upcoming B &E _ (Breaking & Entering, as helpfully supplied by the ever hilarious king of stand up comedy, Dane Cook) _. “You’re totally not prepared!”_

Not prepared. _Right_. This was their first mission, how exactly were they somehow _more_ prepared than him in this situation? _None_ of them had experience. That much was obvious, by how the two J’s (as he liked to call them) hung back, holding the materials they had collected over the past month for this plan. Their jobs, mind you, were solely for distraction — hell, Jase wasn’t even supposed to be there, but Kendra _still_ somehow allowed him to go. Why would she leave him behind? I mean, yeah, his appearance might offset some people, but they weren’t _meant_ to be seen in the first place. If the plan went accordingly like how she was completely confident and assured about, then that wouldn’t be a problem, would it? So, why?

Unless… she was worried..? Wait, no, that’s dumb. Kendra never worried about anything, ‘specially not him.

There weren't a lot of reasons that could possibly be the alternative answer to his question, so he drops it from his mind entirely, too grumpy and tired to deal with whatever emotionally repressed baggage he’s carrying. God, he needs some coffee.

She breaks the lock, and ascends the stairs, Donnie glancing at the red dot on the digital map going around in circles, and reaching the second floor, as the other two dots kept to the bushes.

Then she gets to the allotted floor, and gets in with the card ID she had stolen off the front desk while Donnie wasn’t looking, sliding it in, and slipping in right as the door slams shut behind her, before getting to the mega computer, the main event of their little escapade.

She sticks the USB stick into the nearest socket, and waits.

A few minutes remained.

He mutes his mic to all but Kendra’s, and gets straight to the point.

“So Kendra, why did you really leave me here?” He asks bluntly, leaning on his arm a little, casually stretching his back to fix the dull aching from his shell.

“Because you’re not prepared. How many times do I have to repeat myself?”

“Until you tell the truth.” He chimed in, keeping his voice steady and acting bored, although extremely anxious of what exactly her answer was, as he checks his nails, glancing at the slim petite figure of the teen occasionally looking around, looking irritated, before staring back at the download on screen.

“I did tell you the truth.”

“Alright then, let's say you really are telling the truth, and I’m just being paranoid. When exactly are you gonna let me do field work?” She writhes a little in place, unaware he’s watching her every move, even the tiniest of flinches, and the way her shoulders perk up a little, her breathing getting a little faster.

It was obvious this conversation was making her uncomfortable. _Good_.

“When you’re ready.” She finally says after a few moments of exhalation.

“Nnnnngr.” He imitated the buzz when you get an incorrect answer in a game show. “Dude you sound like every mentor figure in cinema ever. That isn’t even a proper answer.”

She huffs, crossing her arms and leaning on a nearby wall.

“I don’t have to tell you the truth.” 

“Ah, so you admit that you were lying.”

“Ugh, shut up, you snarky little pest! I regret teaching you about sarcasm.” She spit out venomously, hands balling into fists.

“I like to take that as a compliment.” He grinned, knowing he was getting under her skin. “So-“

She cuts him off, immediately turning to grab the USB, and turns to glare at the nearby camera. “I got it, let’s just get outta here already.” She hissed out vehemently, leaving no room for argument.

Donnie just sighs, before humming in confirmation, grabbing the controller from his desk, and watched as one of them threw a stick of dynamite over the ledge as distraction, Kendra grabbing onto the hover board he brought out from the bushes up to the rooftop, going unnoticed from the guards who honed in on the explosion, as he moved it downwards, letting Jeremy ride on, and before Jason can jump on, making it move forwards, leaving him behind in the dust.

A small smirk catches on his beak, as he hands manual control the Kendra, instead much more pleased in watching the guards crowd Jase and start bringing him as the culprit for the explosion, revealing his true position in the team — as the _scapegoat_.

All in all, Mission: Success.

* * *

"You like it?" She asked, looking way too proud of herself than she should be.

" _Yikes_." Was all he said, as he sees the sheer vibrancy of it.

"Hmph, you're just jealous that you don't even have hair." Kendra's sing-song voice rang out into their room as she flips her hair, showcasing the vibrant violet that she decided to dye it with, very successfully.

" _Why_ exactly am I supposed to be jealous? You look like you paid Barney to throw up all over your hair." Donnie deadpans, not bothering to look away from his screen, filling in data as fast as his fingers could type on the keyboard, not caring at all even as Kendra huffs and crosses her arms, glancing at the mirror and twirling the hair self-consciously.

"I- I like it." Jase's voice meekly called out from his little shame corner, trying to appease the other, even just slightly.

"Shut up, Jase."

"Yeah, shut up Jase, you're not part of this conversation."

Jason cowers further into his corner.

“What’s next, you gonna get piercings? Buttford would totally _hate_ that.” He says, his tone flat, although implied.

“Actually, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea… maybe some tattoos too..?”

“Nope, that’s too much.”

“Yeah, piercings it is then. Hm, maybe around the ears...”

The conversation drifts into an easy one, as they both casually forget the existence of the other person in the room.

* * *

"Hey Don..?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I have your opinion on, uh..."

"What already? Spit it out, I gotta concentrate on how to make this app run smoother."

"You're using if-else statements, dumbass, of course it's gonna lag like a bitch."

"Oh. You're right. That's a surprise." He says, sliding his mouse around, and typing faster than he already was, a solution forming in his head on how to fix it.

"What do you mean by that? I'm always right!" She scowls, raising an eyebrow, and looking offended.

"Yeah yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night." He waved her off, instead choosing to prioritize his concentration into his work. "So what was it you were about to say?"

"... never mind."

"You know I hate when you do this, Kendra." He sighed, turning to look behind her, and was leaning on the back of his chair, squinting at her, either from exasperation, or from his eyes adjusting to the darkness of the room after staring at the white screen of the monitor screen for too long. Or both. Either way, Kendra wasn't in the mood to be sharing any secrets any more, spoiled by the mutant's snappy sarcasm — while conveniently refusing to acknowledge that it was probably ( _definitely_ ) her fault he was like he was today, growing up with her teasing comments and brutish behavior.

"How do you know I'm not doing this just for that reason?" She quipped, smirking a little, and crossing her arms.

"Because you are normally never this helpful, you didn't escalate our argument that time, which means there's something else on your mind that is more important than this conversation," He explained in a deadpan, obviously not willing to deal with her BS today, his arguments so brutally honest they felt like arrows piercing through his body. "Not to mention your _tick."_

"Fine fine, you got me, but I'm too pissed to share now, so mind your business!"

"Suuuuure, but you were the one begging for my attention earlier."

"Was not!

"Was to!"

"Ugh, drop it, okay!? It's not even a big deal!"

"If it's not a big deal, then why won't you just tell me about it?"

"Augh, just cause! Just forget about it!!" She exclaims, quickly losing her patience.

"I am literally unable to do your request, unless you invent some sort of amnesia causing ray gun. This all would be resolved rather quickly if you just told me, you know." Donatello, calm as ever, says, now turned to her, almost obsessively keen on getting the answer from her now, after seeing the rather curious reactions she had given.

"I think I like girls, okay!? You happy!?" She looked a tease away from a mental breakdown, eyes tearing up, as she bit her bottom lip and looked away. "I knew this was a bad idea."

There was silence. And then...

"Oh. Is that all?"

"Well, I'm... not sure yet, but..." She scratched the back of her head, a wild blush engulfing her face, looking completely embarrassed about it. "Dad's real traditional when it comes to these things. I don't want him finding out all of a sudden and sending me to some recorrectioning camp or somethin'."

"Ah, what does he know? He's just a mean fart face."

"Wow, real original insult there, Don." She smirked a little, her shoulders relaxing a little, but still tense.

"No, I'm serious! You yourself said traditional stuff sucks right? Why do you have to go by those old rules anyways?" He asks, conveying his opinion through exaggerated hand motions. When she only backs away a little, looking uncertain, he stands up and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, when have you ever cared about stuff like that? C'mon, you're like, the coolest girl I know."

"I'm the only girl you know, asshat."

"Tsk tsk, you're only adding more data points into my argument, dear Kendra." He somberly shook his head dramatically. "Have you truly have lost touch all these years? What happened to the self-proclaimed snarky sassy arrogant girl with a god complex that I know and love to hate?"

"Shut up!" She chuckled, playfully jabbing his arm with her elbow.

"See? There's nothing to be worried about. Fuck what your pops thinks, you're _you_ , and if he thinks anything else, we can always go for Plan B." He presses the button on his keyboard and a very intricate and detailed plan pops up.

Said plan involves luring Kristoff into their hidden secret room late at night at exactly 11 pm when he finishes up his sauna time, with more details about the maids awake at this time involving their schedules, and which areas the guards usually patrolled to prevent them from being seen as they lay their trap. It also included a step-by-step manual involving creaky floorboards, a spring trap, and ended with them trapping him with a simple metallic net trap, and hung upside down before they killed him.

The choice of death varied and its methodological homicide was entirely up to Kendra, free to choose from the helpful list tacked onto next to the crude drawing of Kristoff's hanging buff body with X's for eyes and his tongue sticking out. It ranged from electrocution to a simple throat slit — and if she was, feeling particularly sadistic, slowly slicing him open, or just leaving him to die in the broom closet from starvation and dehydration, or maybe even **[REDACTED]**.

"Donnie!" She gasped scandalously as she stared at the very well thought out joke displayed on screen. It seemed like a _lot_ of effort for a simple laugh. "We are not killing my dad on my new carpet!"

He chuckled, and she joined in, and they both laughed for a good while, making Kendra feel lighter at the thought that at least Don was on her side, as he always was.

"Thanks, Donnie." She smiles, and he gives her a thumbs up, minimizing the screen, and turning back to his code, having an air of impartiality and apathy again, though Kendra knew better. "No probbles, just thought you needed the support."

"Okay, but you weren't actually planning to kill him, right?" She asks, more out of curiosity, and watches as her friend flinches, and freezes, his fingers hovering above the keys, and her brows burrow. He only did those exact tick when she confronted his suspicious behavior or caught him in the act.

When he doesn't respond, her smile dies down.

"Donnie, _answer_."

"No..?"

"That's not an answer! Look at me." She demanded.

"Fine." He looked at her, but not _at_ her. Kinda like glancing a little to the left, but just enough that it wouldn’t be noticeable. "No, I was not plotting to kill your father in cold blood for nefarious purposes and will never ever think of blasting him with a laser canon."

"So you _were_!?"

"What!? I just told you, I-"

"You can't look at me in the eyes when you lie, you're lying!"

"... maybe."

"Donnie!"

"Don't say you haven't at least thought about it! He's despicable!!"

"He's my dad! He's not someone who randomly deserves to die, Donnie!"

"Debatable..." He mumbles, tapping his chin, before reeling back a little at the glare sent his glare. "What?"

" _Donnie._ " She narrowed her eyes.

"Fine, fine! I won't try anything. But I'm telling you, he's gonna get his just desserts one day." He says, turning away, and Kendra thinks that maybe she should keep a closer eye on him.

* * *

"I brought these for you!!"

Kendra, 16, popped into the room, carrying a curious small sack tied together with a red velvet ribbon.

"You weren't sure yet, but you think you're like- non-bi right now, right? So I bought a bunch of these pride flag pins! Oh my gosh, it was such a thrill being there!! Everything was so colorful, and it was just- WOW!! And- and it sucks that you couldn't go there, so I thought ' _hey, why don't I buy Don some stuff_ ', so I did and _AAAAA_!!" She squealed, stimming a little and practically vibrating, a huge smile on her face, and Donnie doesn't think he's ever seen her this happy before.

She's radiating so much excitemnet, that it's practically _contagious_.

She looked over the moon, and so he doesn’t say anything about how he doesn’t think he’s non-binary anymore _specifically_ , and grabs a few pins and a small little non-binary flag stuck to a plastic straw and places it onto the small cylinder filled with pencils and other useful, and sheepishly smiles as Kendra grabs the face paint and wiggle her eyebrows at him. When Donnie sees his green cheeks colored brightly with the familiar shades of black, white, and purple on the mirror next to them, he can't help but grin, as he grabbed the purples and reds and began to drag a calculated hand on Kendra's cheeks.

"Pride party!!!" She smiles widely, grabbing her phone and turns it on them, dragging Donnie into a one-sided hug, before using the camera to take a selfie. As Donnie admires the other pride stuff she bought all stuffed into her backpack: t-shirts, slap bracelets, keychains, and other small stuff that normally wouldn't be very noticeable when worn on the person, he barely notices Kendra furiously typing into her phone.

"Who ya' texting?" He asks, before getting a shit-eating grin. "Your _girlfriend_?~"

"Pfft, nah, nothing like that yet. It's Jeremy. I sent the photo in our GC, so he sent me a pic of him with his cheeks painted rainbows. Apparently he saw me earlier sneaking around, but lost me in the crowd, and so we're catching up and sending pics back and forth of the stuff we bought."

"Oh, okay." He says, and just like that his high comes crashing down like an unsteady Jenga tower.

"You should check the GC! I took tons of pictures of the parades, I think you'd really like them!" Kendra doesn't notice immediately, still extremely elated at having gotten to sneak out and join the colorful event. Which reminded him of his own freakish appearance, and how he was probably never gonna get to go to one. It just... kinda sucked, he guessed.

It took humanity like what, a few centuries to accept people who liked the same gender, and spent an even longer time hating them. They're not really the best at being open-minded and accepting of things that were different. Although some of them were admittedly fine, most won't exactly be the splitting image on hospitality if they found out mutants like him exist.

"It's just- it's irritating, y'know? Some people might be rejected by their family, but at least they can still go out and find other people who will. But me? Nobody’s gonna accept me.” Donnie admitted with a sad look in his eyes, as he stared down at the accessories.

It was a sad truth that he didn’t like to think or talk about. Now is a good time as any, he supposed.

“What am I to you, a plank of wood?” Kendra deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, you don’t count.” He says softly, looking away.

“So I’m not family?”

“I didn’t say that…”

“Well then, you’re not exactly making a good point here Don.” She giggled when he huffed angrily, looking away, as she pulled him into a noogie, earning her a shout of protest.

“I’ll always be your sister, won’t I? Stop worrying about everyone else, you hypocrite, and just be yourself. You’ll always be my dumb little brother.” She smiled widely, hugging him closer. “Won’t you?”

He sighed, and smiled.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He nonchalantly shrugs.

“HAH, I JUST GOT YOU TO AGREE YOUR DUMB, KENDRA ONE, DONATELLO ZERO!!” She exclaims, giving him another noogie, and Donnie writhes in her grip, with a huge smile on his face.

* * *

Donatello, 14 (to 16-ish) now he believes (it's really quite hard to tell, with the unsure specifics of his birth, and so on), sips on his steaming coffee as he watches the CCTV footage across his screens.

This was perhaps the fifth break-in this month of this mysterious... 'Foot Clan', and like any good mystery, he was very intrigued by it, hoping to solve it. The patterns of the break-ins were random, to say the least. First a paper shop — many were targeted, and funnily enough, no one could figure out exactly why someone would need that much paper —, then the attack on a _train station._ Seriously, who _attacks_ a place used for transportation? Apparently these bozos did. It truly was quite the enigma.

Then there was the... other unique problem or rather head-scratching complexity that presented itself to Donatello alongside his current obsession.

Staring at the footage, he pauses, then presses a few buttons, making the grainy footage clearer.

There, stood a giant mutant turtle, around perhaps 6 feet? Taller than him, no doubt, with a red bandana over his head marred with the foot insignia stamped right in the middle of it, with a matching scarf, and bandages wrapped all around his arms — from his elbow to the stops where his fingers meet his palm. He was speaking to the other two who seemed to be in charge of the whole operation, no doubt solidifying Donnie's suspicions that he was in a position of power (possibly? That was very likely) — if that wasn't already super obvious with his wardrobe choice, varying a way unique style than the classic ninja robes the others adorned, if ninja-themed action movies and cartoons taught him anything taught him anything. There was another human with a different type of wardrobe, though there were no notable qualities to her as far as he could see, so he paid her no mind.

He runs a hand across the tag of his name, now looking worn, the name barely visible through the stains and ripped sides. His past... there were four turtles, weren't there? Plus the fact that he never actually saw any of them perish, via fire, suffocation, or being crushed to death by falling debris. And... if he could learn how to speak, there... was a big possibility they could also absorb and assimilate the English language as he did.

As he stares at the screen with tired eyes, he recalls the memory once more. He remembers it quite well, really, despite how long it has been... there was a snapping turtle in the mix. If they counted the years, he should be... roughly the same age as him, sorta. He does recall arriving in the lab at the same time as the red-eared slider, and the spiky-shelled turtle already living there. Then a year later, a tiny box turtle. And since they were mutated with human DNA as he was.

So... if he's 14... then the other should be 15, presuming he had only been around a year before Donnie.

Despite knowing how small the chance was that anyone besides himself had actually survived the initial blast from so long ago, there was an undeniable pang of hope that made him a little excited, his heart picking up the pace accordingly, and his breathing rising. That perhaps... he wasn't the only one in this huge world. It made him feel a little warmer... or maybe that was the rest of his coffee he decides to down in one big gulp, as he saves the footage into the system.

Alas, tracking the turtle, along with finding out what the mysterious 'Foot Clan' he was a part of was taking up most of his time. He needed more data, though. Needed to find a pattern, a proper routine, so that he can set up a trap, make a plan, _prepare thoroughly_ before he can attempt interactions with the red bandana-wearing mutant.

If he truly was his brother — them being mutated by the same green goo and human DNA after all —, then there was no doubt what kinds of genius-level plans the other could concoct, even right at this very second. There was a possibility they were aware of his presence, though the chance was slim, he still needed to be ready for it.

So much to do, so little time...

He orders S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N., his new prototype A.I. to make him a new cup of coffee, as the flying android gives out a beep of confirmation, and flies off.

The clacking of his keyboard does not stop, even when the sun rises, and the next morning arrives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two Down, Two to Go!
> 
> Disaster twins chapters are finished. Or, well, they aren’t exactly _twins_ , per say but...
> 
> Anyways, thank you for your patience, off to make the next turtle chapter I go!


End file.
